Redemption
by Lazeralk
Summary: FF7xLord of the Rings crossover. Aerith gives Cloud and the Advent Children a second chance. If they can be a family, they can go home, but it's not as easy as it seems.
1. Chapter 1

Redemption

Standard disclaimers apply

By: Lazeralk

Warnings: spoilers for FF7: Advent Children.

AN: Some LotR aspects may be inaccurate due to a degree of LotR fan-girl-ish-ness that is far less extreme than the norm for this fandom.

Part 1

0o0o0

"I will never be a memory." Said Sephiroth before the defeated General dissolved into nothingness and Kadaj's broken body collapsed to the ground. The youngest Remnant struggled to find his feet, glaring hotly at his 'brother', and charged one final time, Souba scraping along the unforgiving concrete as he went.

Cloud tensed but dropped his own blade and stretched his arms out to catch the falling warrior when he saw the young man falter. He knelt, cradling the boy's dying body gently and staring down at his unfocused eyes.

Pity and sorrow and a soft sense of loss tugged at his heart as he gazed at what was left of his greatest enemy. Kadaj gasped, his eyes wide but unseeing. He never once looked at Cloud, as if the other man were not there.

"'Kasan?" he asked and Cloud frowned. Was he still looking for her?

The wounded boy slowly raised a hand, reaching far above him as if to catch the trailing fingers of the mother he searched for so desperately. Cloud watched him, keeping his silence as indecision warred in him. Should he try to save him?

Kadaj smiled then, and it was a smile without malice or pain, and it smoothed his face into something beautiful. Cloud stared down at that face and felt regret for all the things that could have been. This stranger had called him 'big brother' and for the first time, Cloud thought about what it would have been like to have had these misbegotten children for his family.

Kadaj's fingers, reaching towards his heart's desire, began to unravel. The peaceful green of the Lifestream filled him up and burst outward from his skin and the Remnant of Sephiroth had never felt so free.

Cloud's head bowed as he accepted the death and said a silent prayer that Aerith would guide him. He slowly climbed to his feet, one hand loosely wrapped around the hilt of his sword. He gazed out at the world before him and it seemed no more fresh or new than it had before he'd begun this quest to stop Reunion. He made to start forward when a shot rang out and searing pain lanced through his chest. He looked down and saw the blood leaking out of him and staining his shirt black.

With a cry of pain, the ex-SOLDIER whirled and charged, sinking his blade into the unresisting duo that stood before him, materia glowing from inside their skin.

0o0o0

Cloud awoke floating in darkness, or perhaps he simply could not open his eyes. He could not move and hardly felt like trying. He was so tired.

The sweet sound of a woman's laughter touched his ears and filled him with a sense of peace and home.

'Mother?' he asked.

'Why is it that everyone is calling me that today?'

Oh, it's Aerith, his mind supplied. Why had he called her mother? Oh yes, that's who the Remnants were searching for. What would happen to them anyway?

'Cloud.' Began Aerith, her voice hesitant.

'Cloud…would you like to help them?' she asked.

'Aerith, what are you doing? I thought we were just going to send him back.' Interrupted another voice.

That's Zack, Cloud's mind informed him. He missed Zack.

'Would you, Cloud?' asked Aerith, ignoring Zack. Maybe she couldn't hear him? Help the Remnants. How could he do that? They were dead. He was dead too, wasn't he?

'If you could teach them to be their own people, to be more than Remnants of Sephiroth. If you could do that, and make them content to live in harmony with the people of the Planet, then they could come back. You could all come back and be the family that you all so desperately need. Would you be willing to do that Cloud?' pleaded Aerith.

He didn't know. Maybe. Could they be saved? He remembered that unguarded, happy smile on Kadaj's face and thought, yeah. Maybe they could be saved.

'Hey Spike, you can just forget about them and go home ya know.' Offered Zack. Good old Zack, giving him a way out, if he wanted it.

But no. He couldn't do that. He couldn't just give up on them. They had called him 'big brother', so he would help them. He'd show them that they didn't need Jenova to be a family.

'Thank you Cloud. More than you know, thank you so much.' Said Aerith.

'Man, that's just like you Spike. Whatever, you take care of yourself ya hear?'

Cloud smiled and thought about teasing Zack, was the mighty SOLDIER getting soft?

'You wish brat. Now get outta here.'

0o0o0

Cloud awoke on his back, his shirt now stuck to his chest where the blood had dried and caked. He could feel dirt under his fingers and smell grass and flowers. The sweet clean air of an untouched mountain filled him up as he drew a ragged breath. He opened his eyes and found himself staring at an arrowhead and the suspicious face of an impossibly beautiful man with sunshine blonde hair and gently pointed ears.

End Part 1


	2. Chapter 2

Redemption

Standard disclaimers apply

By: Lazeralk

Part 2

(notes for cameron small and Lady Thief at the end!)

0o0o0

Cloud felt his eyes go wide as he stared up at the other blonde, muscles screaming as he tensed to roll out of the way. When he saw that his newest opponent was not immediately threatening to kill him, but more standing guard over him, he forced himself calm and chanced a look around, body still tight with tension.

He was in a forest of tall, rich trees that spoke of the quiet rush of life. His swords were still stuck in the ground in a circle around his fallen form, just as they had been when he'd finished his finial attack on Sephiroth.

Kadaj and his two brothers lay sprawled a few feet away from him, materia still glowing from inside their arms and weapons still gripped in lifeless fingers. Three other men with longbows and arrows stood poised to strike over the fallen Remnants.

Cloud gasped and started to sit up, but the searing pain in his chest and the sharper focus of the arrow in his face forced him back down again.

He lifted a hand slowly to his chest and then held it over his face, watching as the fresh blood dripped down his wrist. Why was he in so much pain? Surely dying the first time should have taken care of the wound right? Had Aerith made a mistake and sent him here to die in this place so shortly after arriving?

He let his hand drop and gazed at the man who held him prisoner and noted with confusion his odd clothing of homespun cotton and hand tooled leather. Another man, dressed as strangely as the first, slowly made his way over to where he lay and crouched down just outside of his reach.

The new man, who had dark hair, began to speak to him in language he didn't understand. He frowned at the man and shook his head. He didn't speak Wutainese, but somehow he doubted that this man was speaking it either.

"Continental?" he rasped, surprised that his voice was as rough as it was.

The dark haired man frowned and shook his head in return.

"Do you speak Westron?" he asked.

"Westron? That's Continental." Answered Cloud, reaching for the hilt of his sword and the Restore materia that was slotted there.

The blonde who was guarding him jerked and readied himself to fire, some small change in his stance making him appear much more threatening. Cloud glanced up at him and froze.

"Restore." He said, nodding his head at the glowing green orb that was shining from the hilt.

"Do not reach for your weapon stranger, if you value your life." Said the dark-haired one, his eyes narrowed and his voice dripping with suspicion.

"Not the blade. The materia. The Restore materia. Have to heal this hole in my chest before I bleed to death." Rasped Cloud, his eyes growing angry and confused. Why didn't they understand? Everyone in the world knew what materia was.

"I don't understand." Replied the man, whom Cloud mentally assigned the name of 'Dark'. A horrible thought occurred to him then.

"No materia here? No Lifestream?" asked Cloud, giving Dark his full attention. Just where the hell had Aerith sent them?

"I don't recognize those words stranger."

"Cloud. Name's Cloud Strife."

"You are from Bree?" asked Dark, his eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"No. Nibelheim. But I wasn't there. I was in Midgar. Please, there's a green ball embedded in the sword's hilt. If you hit the little button next to it, the materia will pop out. It just has to touch my skin to work."

Dark shared a soft, quick conversation with the blond who was still ready to kill him in their own flowing language before he backed away and circled around behind the blonde to where the sword lay just beyond Cloud's right hand. Dark pulled the blade carefully towards himself and ran his fingers along the hilt until he found the tiny button and pressed it. The materia popped out, just as Cloud had said it would, but Dark still looked surprised.

He rolled it around his palm for a moment before placing it gently in Cloud's right hand, and backing away quickly.

Cloud let himself relax and opened himself to the materia, feeding it his energy and receiving energy from it in return. He felt his skin knit together and his breathing ease. Warmth filled him up from head to toes and he smiled blissfully at the gentle caress of the Lifestream. When the magic was done he lifted a hand to his collar and pulled the zipper down, exposing his still bloody chest. He touched around where the bullet had gone through and found pink new skin and only a little soreness. He nodded to himself and zipped his shirt back up.

"My brothers?" he asked, glancing at the still unconscious Remnants. No, he had to stop calling them that. His brothers, he would call them brothers or by their names.

"I'm afraid you will have to answer some questions before we can allow you to move Cloud Strife." Said Dark, returning to his former position, crouched just beyond Cloud's reach on his left side. Dark had settled his hand on the hilt of a blade fastened to his hip. His face was pleasant and blank, but his body said he was still far from trusting his newest acquaintance.

"That's fine. What do you want to know?" said Cloud, annoyed that they wouldn't let him check on his brothers, but still willing to be civil about it.

"How did you come to be here and with such grievous wounds?" asked Dark.

"Can I ask your name first?" returned Cloud, settling himself down in the soft grass.

"I am Elrohir, son of Elrond, the Lord of Imladris."

Cloud stared at him in silence for a moment, not sure if the other was entirely serious. Was he lost in some backwater part of the Continent where people still thought it was the Dark Ages or something? After all, Aerith wouldn't be crazy enough to send them off Planet would she? No way. They were speaking Continental, so they had to be in some remote part of the country right?

"Imla-what? Where's that?" asked Cloud, his brow drawn in confusion.

"Imladris in on the Bruinen, west of the Misty Mountains."

Cloud blinked and let it slide. Maybe they were screwing with him. He'd just ignore it for now. Maybe once he was allowed up he could scout around and figure out how to get back to Midgar with his brothers. He looked up at the sky and debated where to start in his story and whether or not he should lie. He didn't want them to attack his brothers.

He sighed and settled on telling him a slightly modified version of the truth.

"My brother's and I had a disagreement and we fought. I think, we all died. It felt like I died. Maybe this is where people go after they die. It feels like Heaven. Clean and new, not at all like Midgar."

He let Dark chew on that. No, Elrohir, the dark haired man was called Elrohir. A strange name. Kind of neat though.

"Your death brought you here?" asked Elrohir skeptically.

"Well, Aerith sent us here after we died."

"Aerith is your God?" asked Elrohir, one eyebrow raised and a slightly amused expression on his face. Great, thought Cloud, he thinks I'm crazy.

"Aerith is an Ancient. She's not technically a God." Answered Cloud, trying not to smile and therefore really convince Elrohir that he was off his rocker.

Elrohir sighed and issued some sort of command in his own language. The archers immediately let up and moved over to the sides of their makeshift camp. They lowered their bows, but kept their arrows knocked and did not turn their backs on Cloud or his brothers.

"Can I see my brothers now?" asked Cloud, the Restore still clutched in his hand. Elrohir nodded and made a sweeping gesture towards the still unconscious trio. Cloud rolled easily to his feet and quickly made his way over to Kadaj.

He felt only slightly guilty that he was favoring the smallest of his new brothers, but the other two had not quite endeared themselves to him the way Kadaj had. He rolled the smaller boy over and pressed the Restore to his chest.

He repeated this process with the other two and then sat back on his haunches, calling their names and waiting for them to wake. He knew from a mentally scarring experience with Zack not to wake a sleeping SOLDIER by touch. His spiky haired friend had leapt out of his bed, completely naked, and pinned him to the wall with a knife at his throat. It had not been a good way to start the day.

Yazoo was actually the first to stir, and he rose slowly. He sat up and dragged his hair out of his face. As soon as he caught sight of Cloud he scrambled backwards and lifted his remaining gunblade.

"Peace Yazoo. The situation has complicated." He said, giving the middle child serene eyes and his most serious expression.

"What's going on Ni-san? Where are we?" he asked, lowering his weapon and rubbing at his arm.

"Aerith decided to give us a chance to start over. Let's not waste it, alright?" said Cloud.

Yazoo blinked at him and then kicked Loz's shoulder lightly. The oldest of the silver haired trio slept on.

"You should pull the materia out of your arm Yazoo, they'll keep draining your energy if you leave them in."

Yazoo continued to gaze at him, not sure he should trust his blonde older brother. Kadaj chose that moment to wake up and he pushed himself violently up onto his knees before he had even opened his eyes.

"Ni-san?" he asked, looking around wildly until his eyes settled on Cloud.

"I'm here Kadaj."

"'Kasan said-."

"Later Kadaj." Said Cloud, standing and then offering a hand up to the smallest, and his favorite, at the moment.

Kadaj took it without hesitation and that made Cloud pause and wonder what Aerith had said to him.

The youngest nodded to Yazoo, who pulled himself up and then kicked his older bother in the shoulder again.

"Oi Loz. Wake up!" snapped Kadaj, glaring down at the still sleeping form of his brother.

Loz stirred, rolled over onto his back, and blinked up at the tree tops. He sat up and looked from Kadaj to Yazoo to Cloud and back again. His face showed his obvious confusion as to why his two closest brothers were not trying to kill his only blonde brother.

"Ni-san?" he asked.

"Aerith sent us here to fix things between us." Answered Cloud, trying to smile encouragingly at Loz.

Someone cleared their throat softly behind them and Cloud turned to see Elrohir waiting patiently to be introduced.

"Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz. This is Elrohir. Elrohir, these are my younger brothers, Loz, then Yazoo and Kadaj is the youngest."

"Pleased to meet you." Said Kadaj, strangely polite. What _did_ Aerith say to him?

"Well met. If the four of you will follow me, I believe you will benefit for meeting my father. He is one of the wisest elves in the land, and will surely know what to do with you." Said Elrohir, giving them a tight smile and gesturing widely in a seemingly random direction.

Cloud stood frozen, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief.

"Elves?"

0o0o0

End part 2

Notes for reviewers: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, but special thanks to those of you who offered to help me with the LotR side of things. I will need all the help I can get. This story will focus on the development of a family relationship between the Advent Children and Cloud, but the setting is still LotR. I'm not sure if I'm going to send them with the Fellowship or not, but if I do, I will need serious help. If cameron small or Lady Thief (or both of you) want to Beta my story for any glaring errors in all things LotR, I would be eternally grateful.

The e-mail that I check is mayaxdragon (at) yahoo (dot) com please e-mail me, or leave your e-mail address in a review, if you're willing to do this for me. Thanks! ~Lazeralk


	3. Chapter 3

Redemption

Standard disclaimers apply

By: Lazeralk

Part 3

Dedicated to Lady Thief, my Beta reader, who absolutely rocks beyond mortal comprehension. Thanks for the links and the info!

0o0o0

Cloud continued to stare at Elrohir, his mind struggling to comprehend how the other man could have said such a silly thing with such a straight face. He chanced a look at his brothers and found them suspicious, indifferent and oblivious.

"Did you just say what I think you just said?" questioned Cloud as he turned his attention back to Elrohir.

The archers shared a look and Elrohir gave the blonde suspicious eyes.

"What do you mean Cloud Strife?" he asked, his voice warm with the first stirrings of insulted anger.

"What do you mean 'elves', and can you please stop calling me by my full name? Just Cloud is fine." Replied the blonde, his voice trying to be apologetic and inoffensive.

"My apologies. We are elves, Cloud, is it so hard to believe?"

The ex-SOLDIER didn't reply, but bowed his head and sucked in a cleansing breath. Bahamut's Scales Aerith! Where the hell did you send us?

"Who's scales?" asked Elrohir, a frown on his face, just as Aerith's dainty laughter filled the air with the sent of flowers. The 'elves' reacted as if they'd been shot, jerking to attention and scrambling for weapons as they scanned the surrounding area.

'Another world, a different time Cloud. Trust in your family and your new friends. Help them, defend them, heal them; and be helped and defended and healed in return.' Said Aerith and Cloud was both surprised and pleased to hear her voice again.

"What about the others Aerith? Tifa and the kids?" he asked in a whisper, a small smile on his face as he felt Aerith's presence at his back. Just like old times.

'No worries Cloud, I'll let AVALANCH know what's happening. They will welcome you home, you and the Advent Children.' She replied.

"Who is that?" demanded Elrohir, his blade now drawn. The archers had turned their bows back on Cloud and his brothers with scowls on their faces.

"It's Mother." Said Kadaj stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest and assuming a lazy stance; one hip cocked to the side.

"That's the Cetra that Aniue* killed." Argued Yazoo, his face bland but set.

"It's Mother!" hissed Kadaj in return, glaring fiercely at the sharpshooter.

"The Advent Children?" asked Cloud, smirking and pretending to ignore the quarrelling brothers. They were actually kind of cute like this, he decided.

'It's what we call them here in the Lifestream.' Replied Aerith. 'Listen up you three; your Aniue has a message for you.'

The three silver haired men snapped to attention, their eyes focused on Cloud with a burning intensity. Cloud's smile faded and he returned their stares with his usual bleak eyes. He tensed and flexed his fingers when Sephiroth's voice echoed through the forest.

'I release you all.'

The four from the Planet stood silent and strung, waiting for more of the General's words, but he said nothing else.

'Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz, Cloud. You are all free to choose your own paths now. Do not waste this chance to be who you truly are.' Said Aerith gently, her voice sweet and kind.

"Only Mother would say that." Growled Kadaj to Yazoo before his face smoothed and he turned towards Cloud.

"We won't waste it Mother. We'll be good." He said, quite seriously, to the air just beyond his blonde brother. Cloud smirked and shook his head.

"Will you kindly explain what is happening?" demanded Elrohir coldly.

"Aerith speaks to us from the Lifestream." Answered Cloud, spreading his hands in a sort of helpless gesture, as if to say: 'I can't do anything about it'.

"And Aniue." Said Yazoo, his fingers playing along the edge of his Velvet Nightmare.

"And Sephiroth." Agreed Cloud, his voice at once sad and bitter. He had _not_ enjoyed killing his childhood idol. But that was best left for another time.

"Aerith is your God?" asked Elrohir again, as if trying to understand exactly what she was.

'I was once a living being, last of the Ancients. When I died I journeyed to the Lifestream, as all living things do when they die. The Lifestream is the beginning and the end of all things, the essence of the soul of the Planet. As a Cetra, or Ancient in the modern tongue, I am the Guardian of the Lifestream. I am much like your Valar, a being with power over life and death, but not absolute power.' Explained Aerith, her voice gentle.

Elrohir seemed to ponder this a moment, his eyes narrowed as he weighed Aerith's words, and the soothing scent of her flowers. He raised his eyes to Cloud, and looked a little unsure as to whom he should be addressing.

"Do the Valar know of this?" he asked at last, settling on staring at Cloud's shoulder.

'The Valar know all things here in Middle Earth. They have allowed me to bring my precious friends here to heal themselves, and each other. We ask that you aid them in this, Elrohir, son of Elrond.'

"If…" the elf began, licking his lips and taking a deep breath to steady himself. "If the Valar ask this of me…I can do no less than obey."

He sheathed his blade and issued orders in his own language again to the circle of silent archers. They immediately put up their bows and stood off to the side, but their faces retained their suspicious scowls. Loz rubbed his stomach as he climbed to his feet and gave a great yawn. Cloud watched the action and fought a smile.

"We're going then?" asked Cloud, watching Elrohir and casting glances as the archers. He knew that he was fast enough to get to his sword and block an arrow or two if they decided to attack, but he didn't want to risk his brothers getting hurt. Kadaj still had Souba, and Yazoo had a single gunblade left to him, but Loz's pile bunker had been destroyed. He still had a gunblade strapped to his back, but it looked as if even he had forgotten it.

Elrohir nodded and watched with suspicion, curiosity and then blatant astonishment as Cloud calmly pulled each of his heavy blades out of the ground, assembled them into one giant sword and then casually flipped the whole thing over his shoulder and attached it to the holster on his back. When he was finished adjusting both the blade and his clothes, he looked expectantly at Elrohir.

The elf stared at him and his truly massive sword for a moment before he set off at a slow walk in the direction he had indicated earlier.

"Where are we going?" asked Kadaj, sliding up next to Cloud and beaming happily at him when Cloud did not object.

"To Elrohir's house I guess." Answered Cloud, gazing at the scenery and wondering how long it would be before they reached anything like civilization.

"The Elven stronghold of Imladris is about a day and a half's walk from here at this pace." Said Elrohir, coming to walk on Cloud's other side.

"Can't we go any faster?" complained Loz, looking as if he were very upset. "I'm hungry."

"You are Men, and with such heavy weaponry…" said Elrohir, glancing at Cloud's sword again, as if trying to see where all the pieces fit together.

"Any pace you set, we can match." Yazoo said, his tone saying without words how ridiculous he thought the elf was being. Walking this slow for their sakes was a nasty insult to the somewhat cynical middle child.

Elrohir frowned at him and then said something in his own language to the archers that flanked them on all sides. They nodded and then dashed off into the forest, Elrohir sprinting after them. Cloud and his brothers smirked and gave chase, running tirelessly alongside the elves and hiding snickers at their looks of disbelief. Cloud glanced upwards and then at Kadaj, his blue eyes gleaming. Kadaj caught his meaning and the two of them leapt up into the tree tops in a single easy bound. They jumped from branch to branch over the elves heads, keeping easy pace with them as they ran.

0o0o0

It was just over four hours of solid running, by Cloud's estimation, that they reached Elrohir's home. They had stopped short of reaching the boarders of the small city and were met by more elves that called out greetings to their small company and cast curious glances at the Advent Children and the ex-SOLDIER.

"This way." Said Elrohir quietly as he led the four newcomers towards a large structure in what seemed to be the center of an endless sprawling garden, full of waterfalls and flowers. The elves that had been with them along their journey remained flanking them, their eyes still narrowed with suspicion and their bodies still poised to strike at a moments notice.

Cloud's eyes darted from side to side, trying to take in all the sights of the beautiful place, a quiet sense of awe filing him up. This place was like the Lifestream where he went to speak to Aerith sometimes. It was quiet and peaceful, but also bursting with life and the joy of living. The Advents, as he'd come to call them in his head sometimes, were gazing around with equal wonder and even Yazoo looked on with a soft, child-like happiness.

"Your home is very beautiful." Said Kadaj to Elrohir, smiling widely.

"My thanks. Come, we go to see my Adar immediately." Answered Elrohir as he navigated the twisting and seemingly endless corridors of the building with ease. Finally they reached a door and Elrohir knocked politely, calling out in that flowing language of his that Cloud was itching to understand.

A masculine, but still lovely, voice answered him and then Cloud and his brother's were ushered into the room. A very tall, stately looking elf was already speaking to Elrohir quietly in their language and Cloud guessed that he must be Elrohir's father, and the one who would, supposedly, determine their fates in this new world.

0o0o0

End part 3

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, you all keep my hopes for this story up and the evil plot bunnies at bay.

*Aniue – the most polite and formal way to say 'older brother'


	4. Chapter 4

Redemption

Standard disclaimers apply

By: Lazeralk

Part 4

0o0o0

Cloud took a deep breath and then settled on his feet, hands hanging loosely at his sides. The Advents saw the stance for what it was and, after a silent conversation in their heads, moved to flank their nervous brother. Kadaj lightly touched the blonde on the arm, meaning to be reassuring, and received quite a shock when Cloud flinched and half drew his blade.

The blonde resheathed his sword quickly and moved so that he was not surrounded by the people whom he had recently fought to the death with, even if they were his brothers. Kadaj's face seemed to crumple before he shook his head and gained a determined expression, his hands curling into fists.

"Welcome, travelers from another world, to my home." Said the new elf, and when Cloud turned his attention to him, he saw that Elrohir was looking at him with some concern and that the new elf was smiling gently at them.

Cloud nodded his head, but said nothing, already scolding himself mentally for reacting the way he had. He was supposed to help the Advents be a family and being a jerk when they touched him was not going to help. He made up his mind to apologize to Kadaj later, and sent a quick glance at the youngest brother.

Kadaj watched the new elf and would not look at him. Cloud ducked his head a little and continued to yell at himself. Yazoo crossed his arms defensively over his chest and sneered at his brother. Cloud wondered what they were talking about since he knew they could share thoughts. Elrohir was also watching them with renewed suspicion.

"I am Elrond Halfelven. My son tells me that the four of you have been brought to us from another world by the Valar. He has told me of your rebirths here and of your great strength." Said the elegant elf.

Kadaj nodded and smiled with the child-like innocence that only his particular brand of insanity could give. Yazoo cocked his head to the side, the only indication that he was even listening and Loz shifted uneasily from foot to foot.

"Elrohir had also told me that the Valar from your world has asked him to aid you in your quest. What exactly is it that your four were sent here to do?" questioned the elf lord as he gestured to a set of chairs, inviting them to sit. Cloud debated a moment before he unsheathed Ultima Weapon and laid it gently on the floor. He took a seat and motioned for Kadaj to take the one next to him. The youngest brother was immensely pleased by this and plopped into the seat eagerly.

"Mother said that one day we can go back to Midgar, but we have to be a family first." Kadaj told Lord Elrond, as if that explained everything.

Yazoo and Loz eased into seats and pretended to listen as they had a conversation in their heads. Lord Elrond frowned and took a seat behind his desk, leaning forward on his elbows. Cloud shifted nervously in his seat. Even sitting down did not diminish the elf's considerable presence. His whole being radiated control and wisdom, and he reminded Cloud faintly of Sephiroth, before the General had lost his mind.

"A family?" asked Lord Elrond, gently prompting.

Cloud leaned backwards and gazed out the window. He didn't want to tell anyone anything. His personal history was not exactly a comfortable conversation topic. If he didn't trust Aerith as much as he did, or see that in this strange new world, he had to pick a side, he wouldn't even consider telling these people anything. Besides, telling the nice elf everything seemed a little mean. He wouldn't understand half of it and he might end up kicking them out. How do you explain to someone who's still living in the technological dark ages that you're a freak of science?

'Try.' whispered Aerith in his head.

You sure about that? The whole Sephiroth went crazy because he was possessed by an alien life form who was trying to destroy the Planet and when he died parts of his body regenerated into those three? You really think he'll just calmly accept it and say 'That is tricky. Well, best of luck'? C'mon Aerith. Not even you're this naïve.

'Try.' She insisted.

Cloud sighed heavily and then leaned forward again, resting his elbows on his knees and giving Elrond a long look. By Shiva, he reminded him of Sephiroth. Elrohir had taken a chair off to the side of the room and was studying him intently. He closed his eyes, picked a condensed and heavily edited-for-public-consumption version, and prayed that he was making the right choice.

"Several years ago there was large corporation called Shin-Ra that controlled most of Midgar. They had a sort of private army of super powerful warriors called SOLDIER. There was one SOLDIER who was better than all the rest, General Sephiroth. Lots of people admired him, even me." Cloud licked his lips and paused.

"Shin-Ra had this scientist called Dr. Hojo." He said and the Advents shivered in revulsion, their faces drawn in dark lines.

"Dr. Hojo was the one who discovered a way to make the Lifestream into a chemical injection, called Mako, which could be used on humans. The SOLDIERS all had Mako in them, and that's what made them so strong and fast. No one but Dr. Hojo knew why Sephiroth was so much stronger than anyone else." Again he paused, wondering if he should include his personal history in the story.

"I joined SOLDIER when I was fifteen. I was really thrilled to actually meet Sephiroth. He'd been my childhood idol for a long time. He was just like I thought he'd be, commanding and impressive, no matter what he was doing. I met another SOLDIER while I was there, Zack. He was Sephiroth's friend, and my best friend. One day Sephiroth disappeared, while he, Zack and I were on a mission in my hometown, Nibelheim. We found Sephiroth in the reactor, he'd killed everyone in the whole town, burned it to the ground. He ended up killing Zack too, and nearly killing me. I quit SOLDIER after that and turned mercenary." He stopped again, watching Elrond's face for his reaction and found slight confusion, but nothing too suspicious. With another sign, he plowed on.

"Sephiroth found out that he wasn't like other SOLDIERS, that Dr. Hojo had done other things to him. He'd used parts from a creature that fell from the stars to make Sephiroth into the perfect SOLDIER. He called the creature Jenova." He said and shot a look at the Advents. They dutifully kept their mouths shut and glared at the floor.

"Jenova did something to Sephiroth, made him go crazy or just took over his mind completely. I don't know, but he wasn't the same anymore. He killed everyone he came across and destroyed wherever he went. He was looking for the black materia, a summon materia that would bring a giant asteroid down on the Planet and kill everything on it at once." He looked at Elrohir and found him with an appalled expression, as if he couldn't quite believe it.

"A group of anti-Shin-Ra freedom fighters called AVALANCHE hired me and we went from place to place, trying to stop Sephiroth and never quite managing it. We finally caught up with him, and I ended up killing him. It wasn't till a few years later that these three showed up, going on about Reunion." Said Cloud, waving at the three of them as he sat back, inviting them to tell their versions.

Kadaj gave Cloud sympathetic eyes that still had a hard edge to them, as if he were sorry that his brother had been hurt, but not sorry that whatever had hurt happened.

"We are the Remnants of Sephiroth. After he died, parts of his body regenerated into us. We grew up in the labs at Shin-Ra with Dr. Hojo's assistants. They talked about him all the time and said they got the instructions for all the things they did to us out of his books. Mother whispered to us all the time and told us to have a Reunion. She told us to find her so that we could all be together again, as a family. So we found her, and I knew she was just genetic material, but I really thought we'd be a family. She opened me up to Sephiroth and he came back through me. He and Ni-san fought, and Ni-san won again, but I died. Then Mother abandoned us and Aniki and Oni-chan died too." Said Kadaj, looking very sad.

"Yazoo shot me, and then I died. Aerith spoke to me in the Lifestream and said we could all have another chance, and if we could be a real family, we could go back." Said Cloud, looking at his new brothers with a contemplative expression.

"Aerith said she'd be our new Mother." Said Kadaj, a smile on his face.

"Aerith said that?" asked Cloud, a disturbed expression on his face, thinking of how Aerith had almost been his girlfriend. Ew.

"She's really nice, and she really loves us. Especially you Ni-san." Yeah? Don't tell Zack that.

"She asked me to look out for you and to obey you in all things since that's what good little brothers do." Said Kadaj serenely. Cloud just looked at him, askance. By Shiva, he really was off his rocker.

'Now now Cloud. Be nice.' Said Aerith.

Are you going to be doing this the whole time?

'Whatever do you mean Cloud?'

Reading my mind and talking to me in my head. Their going to think we're nuts.

'Oh alright, you big baby. I'll leave you boys alone, but don't be afraid to call on me ok?'

You know I'll call if I need you Aerith. I always have.

"Well." Said Lord Elrond, looking as if he knew he was interrupting, even though he had no way of knowing about the silent conversation he was having with Aerith. "If my son has been given this task by the Valar to assist you, then I see no reason why you should not stay here with us in Imladris. I'll have rooms prepared for you all."

"Thank you for your hospitality." Said Cloud, then he glanced at his brothers and they mumbled their thanks as well. Suspicion brewed in his mind as he considered the elf Lord's words. Why hadn't he said anything about their story? Why didn't he ask any questions? Wasn't he going to say anything? What about giving them some info in return?

"Of course, you are all welcome. Now, Elrohir will show you around until your rooms are ready and come to fetch you when it is time for the evening meal." Said Elrond, nodding to his son and dismissing them from his office with the same easy elegance that the General used to have. Cloud was torn between immense respect for the elf lord, and screaming suspicion. He had half a mind to turn around and have a little interrogation of his own.

The five of them trooped sullenly out of Elrond's office and Elrohir watched carefully as Cloud reattached his blade to his back, the blonde's fingers gripping the sword for half a second longer than Elrohir was comfortable with. They wandered through the twisting halls of Imladris for a good hour or so before a female elf came to whisper in Elrohir's ear. The dark haired elf showed them a set of rooms that overlooked a courtyard and left them to get settled, still watching Cloud carefully.

"Ni-san?" asked Kadaj, once they'd all washed up a little. He found his blonde older brother sitting on the deck with his legs swinging over the side, staring out into space. One of the relatively smaller pieces of First Tsurugi was sheathed horizontally at the small of his back.

"Ah?" returned Cloud, not bothering to look at him as he gazed lazily around the courtyard with its little fountain. Kadaj took a seat next to him, but still a little ways away, and was very careful not to touch him.

"This is…our new home, right?"

Cloud looked at him and then away before he gave a sad, half smile.

"For the time being."

0o0o0

End part 4


	5. Chapter 5

Redemption

Standard disclaimers apply

By: Lazeralk

Part 5

0o0o0

Cloud stared blankly at the pile of homespun clothes and flimsy, if well made, slippers that had been kindly left on his new bed. They wanted him to wear this? There was no way he'd ever get any traction with these things, but it wasn't like he could just ignore the fact that his host had left him a gift.

He sighed quietly in annoyance, but changed out of his sleeveless turtleneck and baggy jeans. He figured that they wouldn't be attacked anytime soon, but was still reluctant to leave his trusty boots behind. The pants took him a few minutes to puzzle out, but he eventually got them laced up.

He prayed to whatever deity that would listen that Tifa never ever, _ever_ found out that he'd worn black leather pants that laced up. He'd never hear the end of it. At least they weren't too tight.

The long sleeved tunic was a soft sky blue a few shades lighter than his eyes and had some simple embroidery done on the sleeves and around the collar in silver. It fit ok, but was a little tight across his chest. He debated a moment before securing his shoulder armor and hooking the straps of his sword's holster to both the shoulder guard and his own belt. The one that had been provided for him was a touch too thin to hold the weight of his First Tsurugi comfortably. After seeing the reaction to his massive sword, he'd taken the time to disassemble it and sheathed all the pieces separately along his back.

It felt a little strange to have cloth between the shoulder guard and his skin, but he adjusted to it quickly. He left his gloves on, and they looked a bit strange coming out of his powder blue shirt sleeves. He gave a mental shrug and went back outside to the courtyard, content to sit by himself in the sun.

Kadaj was waiting for him, sitting in the same place they'd been before they'd gone to look around their rooms. The youngest of the Advents was dressed in a light green tunic, brown leather pants, and a pair of the flimsy slippers that the elves seemed fond of. He looked good, sitting in the sun with a happy smile on his face. Cloud noted that he'd chosen to keep his gloves also and briefly wondered at it.

"Hello Ni-san." Said Kadaj, turning to give him a blinding smile.

Cloud nodded back and sank gracefully to the wooden deck that circled the small garden courtyard. They sat in silence, both wondering what to say to the other. Just how did one go about starting a family with full grown strangers?

Cloud frowned to himself, this was going to be harder than he thought.

"Pardon." Said a deep voice from behind them and they sprung to their feet and whirled to face a new elf, dressed in greens and browns and carrying a sword at his hip. Cloud and Kadaj both reached for their respective blades, their fingers curling around the hilts.

Cloud glanced at Kadaj and they subtly shifted their stances to prepare for attack. The new elf gave them an indulgent and amused smile before spreading his hands in a gesture of peace.

"I am Glorfindel, and Lord Elrond has asked me to offer my experiences to you. He tells me that you have died and been brought back. Is this true?"

Glorfindel was a very big elf in Cloud's opinion. All the elves he'd met so far were tall and willowy. Glorfindel was tall, certainly, but broad shouldered and muscular. It was strange to see an elf so built, but there was no mistaking his lineage. He was fair of face with long golden hair, bright blue eyes and gently pointed ears. The ex-SOLDIER looked at him and felt a little jealous, for the elf looked as Cloud had always wanted to look, minus the pointed ears. He studied the other blonde for a moment before deciding that if he attacked, he could take him.

Cloud eased his stance and nodded. He kept a wary eye on the new elf and was careful to maintain his distance. Kadaj looked between the two of them and seemed to be torn. Should he remain suspicious because his Nisan was? Should he accept this new elf as a friend? The Advent felt no malice from the newcomer, and was inclined to be nice to him until he did something stupid.

"I too once died and was returned to life by the Valar." Said Glorfindel, keeping his place until he was invited to join them. He'd never seen such jumpy and distrustful humans in all his long years on Arda. Granted, his dealings with humans were somewhat limited compared to some other elves he knew.

Kadaj smiled slightly and nodded.

"Dying isn't all that fun. But I got to meet my new Mother, so it wasn't so bad." He said, ignoring Cloud's stare.

Cloud sighed a little and then licked his lips. He wanted to go back to his room and brood, or go exploring on his own, but he didn't want to leave his new little brother alone with a stranger. He frowned sharply and crossed his arms over his chest. Kadaj chatted happily with the new elf, Glorfindel, and sent glances his way every so often, but Cloud remained stonily silent.

Yazoo and Loz, for one was very rarely without the other, emerged from their rooms at the same time and wandered over to them, a look of slight interest on Loz's face as he listened to his youngest brother's conversation with the elf.

"Ne, Aniki, Oni-chan, this is Glorfindel." Said Kadaj, gesturing grandly at the elf. Glorfindel bowed a little and smiled.

"What exactly are you calling them Kadaj?"

"It's Wutainese. They all mean 'older-brother' but with different levels of formality and implied respect. Not that we really follow the rules or anything." Explained Kadaj in a chipper voice.

"Can you explain further?" asked Glorfindel, still eyeing Cloud warily.

"Umm…" Kadaj put his fingers to his chin and thought about how best to explain it.

"Usually the age of a brother, or the order in which sons are born dictates how formal the title is." Yazoo drawled as he crossed his arms over his chest and made a point of looking disgusted with the whole situation.

"In our case, the level of formality is based on our personalities." He continued.

"Oh?" asked Glorfindel.

"Sephiroth is the oldest of us, and the most…er…uh." Said Kadaj, eager to pick up the conversation once more.

"Frigid?" offered Cloud, speaking for the first time.

"Well, proper maybe?" countered Loz.

"Serious." Said Yazoo, and the others nodded their agreement.

"Serious then," Kadaj said. "So we call him Aniue, which is the most formal and respectful way of saying 'older brother'. Next oldest is Cloud, but we never really knew him directly, so we called him Ni-san, which is an acceptable way of addressing an older male stranger. Next oldest is Loz, and we call him Oni-chan, which is possibly the most informal and familiar way of addressing an older brother. Next is Yazoo and I call him Aniki, which is slightly more familiar that Ni-san. Understand?"

"I think so." Said Glorfindel and he moved to lean against one of the pillars supporting the awning and watched with displeasure as Cloud moved with him so that the same amount of distance would remain between them.

Kadaj and Loz noticed also and they gave their Ni-san sad eyes. Yazoo glared at his blonde brother, for the movement had brought them closer to each other. Cloud returned Yazoo's glare but held his place.

The atmosphere remained tense until Kadaj asked Glorfindel about himself and the muscular elf obliged him. They mostly ignored the ex-SOLDIER and Cloud sunk quietly into his own mind.

He wasn't sure how he was going to manage this whole building a family thing. He'd never really had a good father figure in his life and thus had no experience with this sort of thing to draw on. He had no idea where to start with them, and the weight of the responsibility and his own lack of direction left him tense with frustration.

He glanced up at the three silver haired Advents as they listened to Glorfindel relate the tale of his own death to them and gave them each a long look, his eyes swirling with conflicting emotions. They were drawing him out of his protective shell of isolation by merit of responsibility and he hated them for it. They were calling for his help in their own quiet ways and he was filled with the protective instincts he shouldn't have felt for them, and it made him uncomfortable. They were offering him his dreams, if he dared to hope, and it scared him.

Most of all though, was what they represented in a whispering, haunted corner of his mind. They were pieces of Sephiroth, the crux of his whole twisted life, and they were his last chance at redemption.

He glanced up as Kadaj laughed joyously at something Glorfindel had said and a small flash of confusing jealousy flared in his chest for a moment before he jerked his eyes away and growled quietly to himself.

He wasn't sure how or why things had happened the way they did, but he knew that somehow, it was his fault. If he'd chosen a little better, worked a little harder, maybe Sephiroth could have been saved. Maybe Zack could have been saved, maybe Aerith and Tifa and Marlene, Denzel and every other person whose lives had been destroyed by his incompetence could have been saved.

Tifa and the others always called him and left him messages like they didn't blame him, but he knew the truth. He knew, and he couldn't bear to look at them and see the proof of all the mistakes he'd made. He knew running away from them wouldn't solve the problems, but it was all he could do. He felt trapped and alone, shouldered with the burden of an impossible task with hundreds of eyes watching him for the slightest mistake. And all of those eyes were Mako green.

"Ni-san?" asked Kadaj, approaching his stormy brother with concern and a soft kind of panic in his eyes. He reached out one hand, not quite touching and let it hang there, waiting for Cloud to acknowledge him. The blond lifted his chin and gave the youngest Advent tortured eyes for half a second before they closed again and Cloud took a deep breath.

He shoved all the memories and all the guilt down, down, down into the box at the bottom of his heart where he kept his past and locked it tight. He looked back up at Kadaj with bright blue eyes, clear and empty.

"Yes Kadaj?" his voice was steady, no hitches or breaks.

Kadaj stared at him for a moment, watching with his own blank eyes and a frown.

"It's nothing Ni-san." He said quietly, trying to smile and failing. His eyes locked onto Cloud's and in that moment, the youngest of the Advents looked a little more sane. Cloud gave him a small, fake smile before he turned and walked away, four sets of concerned eyes following his every move.

End part 5

AN: Ok, so I know I haven't posted in a while, but my muse and I had a huge argument about the LotR timeline and she wouldn't speak to me for a few weeks. We finally agreed on something, but you'll just have to wait to find out what it is! I'll give you a clue though; the fellowship has already departed from Rivendell.


	6. Chapter 6

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

Standard disclaimers apply.

Lasthas and Orolon are mine, I made them up.

By: Lazeralk

Part 6

0o0o0

Cloud walked with his head bowed, the weight of his swords resting comfortably at his back. A somber Elrohir walked beside him, casting annoyed glances at the blonde every now and again. The three silver haired brothers had already reached their destination and Kadaj turned to beckon to them playfully. Cloud watched him and nodded, but it seemed beyond his ability to smile.

Earlier, Elrohir had found the blonde in his father's garden, his giant sword held with one hand as the ex-SOLDIER had effortlessly slid from stance to stance in a deadly and beautiful routine. The elf had been impressed with the grace of his movements, but ultimately worried when he saw the tormented state of his blonde guest's eyes. It had taken him a good half hour before he'd talked the blue-eyed man into coming to the Hall of Fire for supper. Cloud had wanted to forego the evening meal to avoid his brothers, but Elrohir was adamant. How were they ever going to be a family if they never saw each other?

Still brooding quietly, Cloud missed the way Elrohir's eyes narrowed with curiosity at a pair of elves that passed them in a hurry to reach the Hall. When he finally entered with Elrohir, he made his way quickly over to his brothers and nodded to them. He sat beside Kadaj, and gave him a small smile before helping himself to some fresh bread and roast venison.

"Ne, Ni-san, where were you?" whined Kadaj, turning impossibly huge green eyes on his stoic brother. Yazoo watched the pair suspiciously while Loz stuffed his face beside him.

"Training." Was Cloud's grunted reply, slowly smoothing butter over his slice of bread.

"Oh! That's a good idea Ni-san. We should all train together! Ne, Aniki, Onichan, don't you think it's a good idea?" said Kadaj, leaning an elbow on the table to prop up his chin.

"Sure, we could use the work out. All three of us against Ni-san?" said Loz amiably, watching Yazoo's scowl with some concern.

"Don't cry when we beat the shit out of you." Muttered the middle child, sullenly chewing on his own dinner.

"Actually Yazoo, I was thinking that you should probably conserve your bullets as much as possible." Said Cloud, flicking a glance at the long haired teen.

Yazoo glared at him, but nodded slowly. "Ah. Replacing them won't be easy here."

"Hm. Your Velvet Nightmare takes a special .24 caliber round. Each bullet would have to be custom made. Loz needs a new weapon also. If we got Loz some sort of gauntlet, then Yazoo could have both gunblades."

"Yeah! I could use gauntlets! Here Yazoo." Said Loz, smiling brightly as he handed his gunblade over to his brother. Yazoo took the gun and automatically checked it. He noticed the curious glances of the elves and scowled, tucking the weapon away quickly.

Kadaj pouted cutely at being left out of the conversation he'd started and bumped Cloud's shoulder briefly with his own. The blonde froze but took a deep breath and held still. He cast a glance at his youngest brother and returned the gesture, a tiny, struggling, smile on his pursed lips. Kadaj instantly brightened and went back to eating happily. It was a start.

Elrohir watched approvingly as the blonde interacted with his brothers, still tense, but trying. He smiled as he thought of his own brother and was sorry for the missing camaraderie in the four strangers. He couldn't wait to introduce them to his twin, who was scheduled to arrive sometime this evening from boarder patrol. He glanced along the high table, catching his father's eyes and returning his smile and nod. The two elves that had rushed passed them earlier were seated at the table beside Glorfindel and Erestor, chattering quietly. Neither elf was personally known to him, but they wore the grey of Lorien and so must have come from the Golden Wood. It was not so strange that they were here, with the Fellowship already departed, but his anxiety at their arrival could not be denied. Had something happened to Estel? Or the hobbits?

While Elrohir was concerned for all the members on the dangerous quest, and though he knew Estel could take care of himself, he still worried for his baby brother. As an elder sibling, it was his right to worry, no matter how old Estel grew.

Glorfindel suddenly stood from the high table, pushing his finished supper plate away from him, and headed in his direction. Elrohir eyed the blonde as he approached curiously, but the mighty Balrog Slayer just smiled at him.

"Your father requests that you show our guests to his office after you've all finished eating. We've urgent news from Lorien." Said Glorfindel, his easy smile betrayed by the much more serious look in his eyes. Elrohir nodded and hastily finished his own meal. Having overheard, the silver haired trio and the brooding blonde followed suit, making quick work of their meat and bread.

Curious elven eyes watched them covertly as they stood as one and followed Elrohir down the twisting halls of Imladris. When they arrived at Elrond's study, Glorfindel opened the door without knocking and strode in. The other's entered on his heels, but the elf Lord was not there, having not yet left the Hall of Fire. Another elf was waiting, seated on the chair Elrohir had occupied when the Advents had last been to this room. Kadaj turned to Elrohir, intent on asking who the new elf was, when their guide suddenly cried out with delight and rushed into the waiting embrace of the other elf.

Cloud's eyes widened as he took in the two smiling faces of the embracing pair and he shook his head with a rueful smile. This was bound to cause trouble.

"My friends! I would like to introduce to you my twin brother Elladan. El, the blonde one is Cloud, the tall one with short hair is Loz, the one with the longest hair is Yazoo, and the smallest one is Kadaj." Said Elrohir, beaming joyfully as he clung to his brother's side.

"Pleased to meet you all." Said Elladan, giving a short but graceful bow.

"Nice to meet you too." Said Kadaj pleasantly, a bright smile on his face. Yazoo and Cloud gave stone-faced nods while Loz echoed his youngest brother's smile with one of his own. At that moment, Elrond strode through the door and embraced his recently returned son fondly.

"Welcome home Elladan."

"Thank you Ada, it's good to be back. What's the news from Lorien? Has something happened to Estel?"

The Lord of Imladris smiled and waved his hands at the waiting chairs, taking his own seat behind the desk.

"Estel is fine Elladan. The fellowship has arrived in Lorien relatively unscathed. However, the Lorien scouts have reported an army on the march to Rohan. We believe that the fellowship will also be in the Mark by the time the enemy reaches them."

"Adar, we must go to help!" said Elladan, coming to his feet.

"I though you might say that. Elrohir?" asked Elrond, watching the younger twin carefully.

"If Elladan is going, then so am I."

"Elrohir, you have other responsibilities here." Reminded Elrond with a quick glance at the seated and curious Advents.

"What responsibilities? El?" asked a confused Elladan and he turned to look at his brother.

"I've been charged with the guardianship of these four brothers by the Valar. They are great warriors, if they would but join us…" replied Elrohir, turning to gaze at the Cloud and the Advents.

Cloud sighed and shifted in his seat, casting a glance at the silver-haired trio at his side. Kadaj looked at him expectantly, hopeful and trusting. Loz watched Yazoo uncertainly and Yazoo just scowled at the floor.

"War huh? What sort of enemy would we face?" asked Cloud.

"Orcs, goblins, Uruk-hai. All sorts of nasty beasts." Answered Elrohir.

"Great. Just like boot camp then." Muttered Cloud. He signed and raked a hand through his hair. If people needed his help, then he should give it to them. Never mind that this was just the sort of thing that got him into so much trouble last time.

"Count me in too then." Said Cloud, thinking that at least he'd be able to wear his own clothes (and shoes) without offending anyone. He could use the exercise too, being cooped up in this place after a lifestyle of aimless traveling was driving him stir-crazy.

"We'll come too Ni-san." Said Kadaj, smiling brilliantly, excited to go on an adventure with his new brother.

"We need weapons. Knives for me and gauntlets and stuff for Loz." Said Yazoo bitterly, accepting that he was getting dragged along whether he liked it or not with a rebellious scowl.

"Anything you might need we will provide for you." Assured Lord Elrond. "You will leave tomorrow, as early as possible. Our Lorien guests, Lasthas and Orolon, will accompany you to the Golden Wood. If you travel quickly, you may catch the fellowship before they leave Lorien. If not, then you shall have to travel to Rohan."

The elf lord turned to his sons, his face set in grave lines, as the four SOLDIERS filed out of the room.

"Elrohir, Elladan please stay a moment. Our Lorien guests have brought grievous news of Mithrandir."

0o0o0

Cloud stood by the horse that would be his for the journey, already packed and dressed in his own clothes and boots. He'd had a seamstresses add a single long black sleeve to his turtleneck to replace the one he'd lost in Midgar. He felt more like himself with his outfit complete again. The two white-blonde elves that would be their guides to Lorien were sitting astride their mounts, checking their bows and waiting for the twins and the Advents. They had been polite enough to not comment on his clothes, or the large set of swords that rest comfortably at his back.

It was Elrohir and Elladan who emerged first, giving fond hugs to their father and sister, who had been quickly introduced to them that morning. The twins gave identical nods and identical smiles to both Cloud and the Lorien elves. Lasthas and Orolon returned them before their eyes widened, staring at the three silver haired warriors that were striding towards them. The Advents were dressed in their black combat leathers, silver buckles and zippers gleaming in the morning sun.

Kadaj had added a pair of black-hilted Elven long-knives to complement Souba, crossed against his back. Yazoo carried both gunblades plus equipped materia on his hips, a pair of long-knives strapped to his thighs, smaller daggers sticking out of his boots, and a pair of throwing knives attached to his each of his forearms. Loz wore heavy iron gauntlets over his hands and forearms, a large broad sword on his back and a pair of knives on his hips. Even Cloud had to admit that they looked impressive.

Materia had been redistributed the night before, and Cloud was carrying his maximum in First Tsurugi plus an extra Restore, Summon and Speed Plus in his pocket. Because Loz didn't have any weapons with slots, he was forced to carry his materia and then equip it to himself once they reached the battle field. Souba had two slots, and each gunblade had one, all fully equipped with materia that complemented each Advent's fighting style. Yazoo and Kadaj were both carrying extra materia to equip to themselves later. Cloud nodded to himself, knowing that they were as prepared as they were going to get.

"All set?" asked Elrohir, nodding in greeting to the approaching Advents.

"Yep!" said Kadaj, waving happily at the assembled party.

"Off we go then." Said Elladan, swinging up onto his own horse.

"Safe journey my sons, my friends." Said Elrond, one hand raised in farewell.

"Safe journey and a swift return home." Said Arwen, her eyes lingering on her brothers.

Anxious to get moving and not fond of goodbyes, Cloud mounted quickly, and spared a frown for his missing Fenrir. Kadaj urged his horse over to Cloud's, a curious smile on his face as he leaned over to peer into his brother's face.

"I wish I had my bike." Grumbled Cloud, shooting Kadaj a look. The youngest Advent smiled widely and echoed the sentiment.

Orolon led them out of Imladris at a walk, Lasthas taking up the rear.

"This would be a lot easier if we flew." Grumbled Yazoo as he sat atop his horse, his face hinting at a scowl.

"Flew? However would we do that?" asked Elladan curiously, eyeing the long-haired Advent.

"Bahamut." He answered simply, glancing at Kadaj.

"Wasn't that the one with the scales?" asked Elrohir, earning a short, quiet chuckle from Cloud.

"Riding is fine, we'll get to see more of the countryside this way." Said Cloud lightly to Yazoo, already much happier to be on the road again. He'd deliberately ignored the topic of Bahamut, not sure how the elves would take the fact that they could summon and control a monstrous dragon at will. He'd also quietly borrowed some hand-drawn maps from the library and was fully prepared to take the journey's lengthy travel time to question the elves about the history and geography of the place instead. As far as he was concerned, they were due some information from the elves in return for spilling their guts the day before.

"So Elrohir, tell me about this place we're going." He said, slowing his horse to walk between the dark haired twins.

"Well, Lothlorien, which means Golden Wood, is one of the oldest and most beautiful of the remaining Elven Kingdoms…"

End part 6


	7. Chapter 7

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

Standard disclaimers apply.

Lasthas and Orolon are mine, I made them up.

By: Lazeralk

0o0o0

Part 7

0o0o0

Two days had passed without incident on the road to Lothlorien. According to Lasthas, who was taking his turn to lead, they were making good time. Cloud thought that not getting anywhere for two days was not 'making good time', but he kept it to himself. They'd all taken time to walk a few miles when they got saddle sore, even the elves, though they didn't use saddles at all.

Yazoo walked most of the time. He never said anything, but Cloud could tell that he didn't like horses. Not that he could blame him; after all, the four-legged animals were nothing like chocobos. They had a completely different rhythm to them at a walk, though they seemed just fine at a trot.

"Kadaj, I have a question, if I may?" said Elrohir as he made his way over to the smallest of the Advents.

"Sure." Answered Kadaj, giving the dark haired elf a serene smile.

"When we first met, Cloud said something about all of you fighting to the death. Why were you fighting then and not now? Did you not like him then?"

"It wasn't that we didn't like Ni-san then, but he was trying to stop Reunion, and Mother said we had to have Reunion." Said Kadaj, somewhat sad when he thought of how his mother had abandoned him.

"What's Reunion?" asked Elladan, curious to hear more about the people his twin had been ordered, by the Valar of all beings, to mentor.

"They were trying to bring back Sephiroth." Said Cloud, his face set in hard lines.

"Wasn't he the one that killed all of those people, and tried to kill you Cloud? The one who was your childhood idol?" Asked Elrohir.

Cloud nodded slowly and turned away.

"Mother wanted Sephiroth to finish what he'd started. She wouldn't let us do it. She always did love him more than me. More than us." Said Kadaj bitterly, the first openly negative emotion he'd shown since he'd woken up in this new world.

"Kadaj." Called Cloud, his back still turned to them as he rode ahead.

"Don't call her that anymore. She's Jenova. Your mother is Aerith now."

Kadaj smiled brilliantly and nodded.

"You're right Ni-san. We'll call her Jenova from now on." He promised.

"What is it that Sephiroth started to do?" asked Elladan, already dreading the answer.

"Sephiroth was trying to kill everyone on the planet in one fell swoop. Ni-san stopped him." Said Loz, happily joining in.

"So why aren't you fighting now?" asked Elladan.

"We had our Reunion. We brought Aniue back, and he killed Kadaj. Then Moth-Jenova. Then Jenova abandoned us. She stopped speaking to us, like we weren't worth her time if we couldn't give her Sephiroth. She just left us, after years and years of whispering in our heads, promising us that we'd all be a family, promising that she loved us. We're just pieces of Sephiroth, that's the only reason she even bothered with us. It's always only ever been about Sephiroth!" snarled Yazoo angrily from his place on the ground, walking sullenly beside Loz's horse.

Everyone was silent until Cloud sighed and turned around in his seat, flipping easily with his hand as a balance between his legs. He sat backwards on the horse and rest his hands on his thighs as he studied each of his silver haired brothers in turn. Aerith, give me strength, he thought and began to speak.

"You're not just pieces of Sephiroth. Each of you has pieces of him within you, and it shows in your personalities, but you're each a great deal stronger than he was. Not physically, but emotionally, mentally." He began.

"Are you saying that Aniue had a weak mind?" Yazoo demanded, his voice dripping with venom. Cloud was momentarily puzzled as to how he could be so obviously jealous and bitter towards Sephiroth one second and then so vehemently defend him the next.

"Yes Yazoo, I am. Sephiroth was incredibly powerful, always had been, but he chose to let himself be used as Hojo's pawn. I knew him before he found out about Jenova, not very well, but I did know him. He was very withdrawn, anti-social. He just followed his orders and then went back to his rooms or did solo-training. Zack complained about it all the time. Said he needed to get out more, meet people, live. He was very distant to everyone around him, except maybe Zack. Still, he was good man, he looked out for his men, even the cadets, he never abused his authority and he was a good teacher.

But when he found out about Jenova, when he finally found out about all the horrible experiments and things Hojo had done to him, all the lies and betrayals, and deaths. He just…lost it. He let his grief and his rage consume him to the point that he couldn't see anything else. He let it wash away everything that he'd built for himself, all his morals and beliefs and experiences. He didn't fight to keep his sense of self, he just let it go. It was easier to let go of who he was than to fight to keep himself together. He gave up. Maybe Jenova had something to do with it, no one will know except Jenova herself and maybe Sephiroth.

But the point is that he just gave up, he gave up his identity, and with it, his direction. Without those two things, he was just a puppet, going wherever Jenova told him to, doing whatever she told him to do. He didn't have a sense of self anymore; he didn't have the control or the will to make his own choices. And giving up all that, letting it all go without a fight is weakness of the mind to me."

The whole group was staring at him, utterly silent, and Cloud took another deep breath before he plowed on ahead.

"You three are different. You each have your own individual sense of self, your own will and your own beliefs. You each define yourselves as different from each other, and different from Sephiroth, and much different from anyone else. You followed the orders of Jenova, but you chose to. And in the end, in those last few moments after the battle, you chose Kadaj over Jenova, and over Sephiroth." He said, mostly to Yazoo, and a little to Loz.

"Neither of you offered any sort of resistance once Kadaj was dead, the fight went completely out of you. Jenova wouldn't have cared at all, but you two chose to die together rather than live apart. And now you've chosen to live for yourselves. You follow Kadaj's lead, and he follows his mother's, Aerith's. But Aerith isn't speaking to you; she isn't directing any of you to do anything. You're making your own choices, living the way you want to. Maybe you don't like all of it, but you are. Don't look like that Yazoo. You could have decided to stay in Imladris, but you didn't. You didn't ask Aerith if coming on this journey was what she wanted you to do, did you?"

Yazoo frowned and ground his teeth together.

"No, I didn't. I came because I don't like being away from my brothers, and because Kadaj so obviously wanted to come." He admitted.

"And Kadaj, Loz, did you ask Aerith if this was what she wanted for you?" Continued Cloud.

"No Ni-san. I didn't." said Kadaj, strangely pleased. Loz shook his head, a smile blossoming on his face.

"So you see? You are all much stronger than Sephiroth was. It takes a great deal more strength to live for yourself than it does to follow blindly or lie down and die. So don't say that you're just pieces of Sephiroth. I don't think that's true at all. Each of you by yourselves is a better person than what Sephiroth had become."

He gave each of the Advents a long look, his face serious. Kadaj smiled up at him, utterly joyful, and even Loz gave him a small smile, approving and appreciative. Yazoo frowned down at his feet, but his face was more considering than angry. Cloud hoped that he'd really think about what he'd said and that his words would help Yazoo with all the resentment he seemed to be carrying around.

Satisfied, and diligently ignoring the proud smirk on Elrohir's face, he flipped himself back around and stared straight ahead, watching Lasthas' back as he led them down the thin dirt trail.

For the next few hours, the Advents remained in distracted silence, while the elves chatted quietly in their own language. It wasn't until Yazoo raised his head and then leapt out of the way of an arrow with a curse that the others returned their attention to their surroundings.

The elves knocked their bows and fired from their higher position atop the horses while the Advents and Cloud all quickly dismounted and drew weapons. Yazoo's hands hovered over the gunblades on his hips, before he snarled and drew the long knives instead. Cloud had two giant swords in hand and was already casually batting the black arrows out of the air. Loz had drawn the broad sword and was defending the twin elves behind him. Kadaj and Yazoo blocked arrows headed for the two Lorien elves. There was a momentary pause and the arrows stopped before the foliage parted and vaguely humanoid shaped black brutes emerged, roaring and charging.

Now that the arrows were no longer an issue, the Advents and Cloud rushed to meet the enemy head on, blades flashing. A quick series of turns here and few well placed thrusts and slices there and the enemy soldiers fell quickly. It was over in seconds, the party of thirty of so Orcs proved to be no match at all for the much more experienced warriors. Cloud took stock of everyone before he started cleaning his blades, and Yazoo studied the butchered bodies of their enemies while he slowly wiped his knives clean. The elves put up their bows and watched their guests with renewed respect, and not a little fear.

Kadaj wandered over to one of the closer dead and poked a lifeless shoulder with the twin points of Souba.

"What _are_ these things?" he asked.

"_Yrch,_ in Sindarin. Orcs, in Westron. They're usually disorganized clans of small scale raiders and pillagers. Bands of them wander the land looking for encampments to sack. They're like vultures, only more dangerous. Now that Sauron is on the rise again, they've become much more organized. They're forming up into an army again." Answered Elladan.

"We need to keep moving." Said Orolon quietly from his position as rear guard.

"We'll push forward today and cut a few hours off our travel time. Everyone mount up." Said Lasthas, his voice firm. Loz hurriedly mounted, always willing to follow orders, so long as one of his brothers didn't contradict them. Yazoo and Kadaj shared a look, and Cloud could see the rebellion rising in them. Instead of snapping at them he just mounted his horse without hesitation and headed towards Lasthas at a slow trot. Seeing that they didn't have much of a choice, the other Advents followed suit.

They pushed the horses into a canter, then a full out run for half an hour before they slowed to trot for another hour. Once they were out of the forests they would be able to run with less risk to the horses. It was another hour or so through the trees before they would reach that point and everyone was on high alert for more enemies.

Cloud focused on riding, wishing vehemently for his bike and felt Aerith's soothing presence at his back.

I have a gift for you, she told him.

What is it?

Listen.

Cloud looked up and strained his ears, but only heard the rushing wind, the rustle of leaves and the stomp of their horses' hooves.

'I hate these things. Why couldn't Mother have left us our bikes?' Kadaj muttered quietly. Cloud nearly jumped, knowing that he shouldn't have been able to hear that over the noise they were making, even with his Mako-advanced hearing. He turned to look over his shoulder at him and Kadaj met his eyes questioningly.

'What are you looking at Ni-san?' whispered through his mind.

'I can hear you.' He sent back, watching his brother's face carefully to see if he got the message. The youngest Advent's face lit up and he beamed happily. Then, much more quietly than before, Cloud could hear Kadaj excitedly telling the other's that he could share thoughts.

'Ni-san?' came Loz's tentative mental voice after a moment, louder in his head.

'I can hear you Loz.' He sent back, smirking quietly to himself as he turned his attention back to the front.

Aerith's voice suddenly rang through his head, the soothing sent of her flowers in his nose, even though he knew he shouldn't have been able to smell them at the speed they were traveling.

Your link to them will grow stronger with time, and the more you feel for them, and the more they feel for you will strengthen it as well. The link between the three of them is already strong enough to transmit emotions as well as thoughts. For now, yours is only strong enough to send thoughts, and only ones that you specifically direct. Good luck Cloud, Tifa sends her love.

Cloud ducked his head down and fought off a slight blush. He really didn't want to think about Tifa just then. He already felt immensely guilty for dying on her and then abandoning her to some other world to work on his relationship with former enemies, one of whom beat the crap out of her.

He spent the rest of the ride very diligently _not_ thinking about home and trying to get a conversation going with his brothers.

0o0o0

End part 7

Note to Angelus: I think I can manage that. No promises though.


	8. Chapter 8

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

Standard disclaimers apply

Lasthas and Orolon are mine. I made them up.

("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. (I am SO not going to try to translate the dialog myself, LotR fans rejoice)

AN: this chapter is sorta filler…but read it anyway!

By: Lazeralk

0o0o0

The plains were much easier to navigate than the forests as they headed south from Imladris, though they provided little in the way of cover. A band of eight, even if half of them were elves, was a tempting target for any raiding party that passed too near. Cloud studied the maps he'd taken from the library, a fact that had irritated the twins, but they'd grudgingly seen his point when he'd explained why he'd done it. Seeing as how the maps were written completely in Sindarin, Cloud had to rely on Elrohir to translate them for him.

"We have to cross the mountains at some point." Said Cloud, handing the map over to Elrohir. "What will we do with the horses?"

"We'll set them loose. They know their way home. We'll cross at Moria, there's a rough pass that the elves of Lorien and the last dwarves of Moria used at a trade rout after Moria was sealed. It's a long climb, but it's actually the lowest spot in the mountains for miles in either direction. It leads almost directly into Lorien." The dark haired elf explained.

"So, where are we right now?" asked Kadaj, suddenly leaning over the side of his horse to see the map in Elrohir's hands. Elrohir pointed to a spot not far from Imladris.

"We've only gone that far? It's been a week already!" he complained.

"I still say we should fly." Said Yazoo.

"I am _not_ explaining Bahamut to them. Actually, speaking of summons, do you guys still have those big black shadow-dog things that you siced on me that first time?" asked Cloud.

"What, these?" asked Kadaj as he raised a hand before him. The shadows suddenly leapt into vicious looking black dogs, almost skeletal in appearance with sharp protrusions on their shoulders and tails.

The elves immediately cried out in alarm and drew weapons. Kadaj laughed merrily at them and waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. The shadow beasts vanished. Yazoo shook his head in exasperation and Loz gave the elves a teasing smirk. None of the elves returned it.

"Those are Lurkers. They follow us in the shadows and come when called. We can direct them with our thoughts. They aren't very smart, but their strong and loyal." Said Kadaj, smiling happily as he summoned a single beast to him and pet it fondly on its skeletal head. His horse didn't seem to mind the proximity.

"They're _Dark_ creatures! Servants of _Sauron_! They should be _destroyed_!" hissed Orolon, refusing to put up his blade.

Kadaj's face immediately darkened.

"They're _my_ pets!" he roared back, his body ridged with tension and his face contorted with rage. He leapt off his horse and onto Orolon's, drawing Souba and placing the twin tips at the elf's throat.

"_Don't you threaten my pets!"_ He nearly screamed, blind with fury.

"That's enough Kadaj." Warned Cloud, half drawing one of his six swords. Yazoo's hands were on the gun blades, but his eyes watched Cloud carefully, knowing that his blonde brother was the biggest threat to Kadaj at that moment. Loz frowned deeply, but moved to support Yazoo.

Kadaj seemed frozen, poised and ready to deliver the killing blow, before his face went slack and he smiled eerily at the silver-blonde elf he was holding at sword point.

"My pets serve my brothers and I and no one else. Not Sauron and not you, not even Mother. And don't you forget it." He whispered menacingly before he released the elf and back flipped easily to his own horse, sheathing Souba along the way.

The twins traded uneasy looks while Lasthas came to see to a visibly shaken Orolon. Cloud glanced suspiciously at the three Advents who were huddled protectively together, Kadaj at the center.

"If what you say about our enemy is true, then the Lurkers will provide additional protection and force against them. Besides, the Lurkers are made entirely out of shadow. They can't be killed." Said Cloud reasonably, directing his words towards the edgy elves.

"How can we trust them?" asked Lasthas, eyes narrowed.

"How can you trust your horses not to turn on you? Or your dogs?" replied Yazoo scathingly.

"We've raised our horses from foals, and our dogs from pups." Argued Orolon.

"The Lurkers have always been with us. They're ours in a way I can't even explain and they've always been with us." Said Loz, pleadingly.

"Sephiroth could call them. Before everything. I only saw it once, on a monster hunt below the Plate when I was still in basic training. He called up one to chase down a fleeing Jack and had the Lurker bring it back to him. Zack said he used them a little in the war against Wutai also. I don't think even Hojo knew what to make of them, but he probably told Sephiroth not to use them too much." Said Cloud quietly, just as much to the Advents as to the elves.

Elrohir urged his horse over to the two Lorien elves and whispered to them for a few moments in Sindarin. The Advents watched suspiciously as they talked, quietly welcoming Cloud when he made his way over to them. Finally, Orolon moved forward.

"My apologies Kadaj. I mean no harm to your pets and will accept their aid against our enemy." He said, stiff but genuine.

"Sorry for attacking you." Said Kadaj, suddenly happy again. Cloud hung his head in relief as all the tension left his shoulders.

"We should really keep moving." Said Elladan from his place on the sidelines. When the small party began to move again he guided his horse towards his brother's, leaning over to speak to him.

("You've got your work cut out for you brother. This will be no easy task.)" he said lowly.

("Yes brother, there seems to be more than meets the eyes with these young Men. I wonder what pushed the youngest to such rage so quickly though. It is unusual, even in Men.")

("Perhaps you might ask Cloud? He seems to be the most forthcoming.")

("I shall. Excellent advice El.")

("Not at all El.")

0o0o0

It wasn't until they were approaching Moria, some three days later, that Elrohir had a chance to speak to Cloud about his youngest sibling. With Lasthas leading both Kadaj and Loz on a game hunt, and Elladan keeping Yazoo occupied, Elrohir approached the moody blond. Cloud had settled himself before the small ring of stones that would be their fire pit when the others returned with food.

"Cloud?" he asked, crouching down beside his charge. The blonde looked at him questioningly.

"I wanted to talk to you about Kadaj. That outburst a few days ago about the shadow beasts? Was that sort of reaction normal for him?" asked Elrohir, trying to be as tactful as possible.

Cloud shrugged and laced his fingers together, elbows resting on his knees.

"I haven't known them all that long, and most of the time that I did know them, we were fighting. Kadaj sounded pretty crazy when he spoke to me before we got here. He seems pretty much ok now. Aerith said something to him." Cloud shook his head.

"He was pretty obsessed with Jenova before, but it's possible he got that from Sephiroth. Kadaj is trying, more so than any of us I think, to make this work."

"Is he?" asked Elrohir.

"Yeah."

Elrohir frowned at him.

"If this is normal for him, what will you do?" the elf asked quietly.

"Deal with it as it comes I guess. What else can I do? I don't know what will make him blow up and what wont." Muttered Cloud defensively.

"Maybe you should ask Loz or Yazoo how they handle it." Suggested Elrohir gently, clasping the blonde's shoulder encouragingly. He frowned and quickly released his grip when the young man flinched violently. Glaring, Cloud clenched his hands into tight fists before deliberately turning his attention away from the elf, his face closed. Recognizing the dismissal, Elrohir stood and left to find his twin, leaving the blond to his thoughts, a troubled expression on his face. After a moment of tense silence, Cloud stood and made his way over to Yazoo. The long haired Advent met his eyes disdainfully when Cloud signaled that he wanted to talk to him away from the others.

With a carefully blank expression, the middle-child followed the blonde into the trees, the elves watching silently.

0o0o0

Kadaj lifted their kills, a pair of pheasants and three rabbits, easily as he lead the three man hunting party back towards their camp. Loz laughed happily and then proceeded to lift his youngest brother, game and all, up onto his shoulders with one easy movement and continue at a trot towards the others. Lasthas followed behind, a small smile on this face as he tried to reconcile the fearsome warrior who'd threatened his fellow guardsmen with the giggling child perched atop his brother's shoulders. He wasn't sure what was going on with the four Men they were escorting to Lorien, but for some reason they made him uneasy.

0o0o0

"What do you want Ni-san?" asked Yazoo quietly, and Cloud could tell he was forcing himself to be civil.

"Is Kadaj ok?" Cloud asked, deliberately ignoring the painfully obvious problems between the two of them.

"Why wouldn't he be?" questioned Yazoo suspiciously.

"He was pretty angry a few days ago, with the whole Lurker thing." Replied Cloud, as neutrally as he could.

"He's fine. Daj is bi-polar. That sort of thing is normal. As long as he's happy, it doesn't happen." Explained Yazoo stiffly, his body tense.

"What if it does happen again? We need these people. We don't know anything about the people, the language, the land, anything. We could survive, but we wouldn't be happy, and I don't think we'd ever get home. And I don't know about you, but I want to get home eventually."

"So, what? You think Kadaj is going to somehow screw this up for you? You think he's going to make it so you can't get home? That's so like you _Cloud_. You're so _selfish_! Can't you see that he's doing his best to be nice to you?" yelled Yazoo, working himself up into a fury.

Neither noticed as Kadaj and Loz crept quietly towards them from the camp, their faces drawn into frowns as they listened.

"And you're wrong; we would be just fine without these people. We would be just fine without _you_! Unlike you, we don't really care what people think of us! Unlike you, we're capable of looking out for each other instead of wallowing in our own guilt!" he continued, jabbing a finger into Cloud's chest. Cloud's posture immediately changed at the contact to something much more hostile.

"So you never want to get back home? You want to just live out here in the wilds, like animals?" demanded Cloud, his voice low.

"We've done it before." Hissed Yazoo, crossing his arms defensively over his chest. He'd backed away from his seething brother, knowing that in a one-on-one fight, Cloud would beat him hands down.

"That's no way to live Yazoo." Started Cloud, relaxing his battle-ready stance to something less threatening once Yazoo had backed off, physically at least.

"What do you care anyway? It's not like you're doing this for us. You just want to get home! We're just a means to an end for you, so why the hell should we listen to you?" growled Yazoo, his lips twisted into a teeth-bearing snarl.

Suddenly, Kadaj announced his presence by slapping his closer brother hard across the face. A shocked silence filled the forest as Kadaj glared murderously at Yazoo.

End part 8


	9. Chapter 9

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

By: Lazeralk

Standard disclaimers apply.

Lasthas and Orolon are mine. I made them up.

Once again, ("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. 'Blah' is the Advents and Cloud sharing thoughts.

0o0o0

"Shut up!"

Yazoo took a wide-eyed step back, a hand to his burning cheek, as he stared at his brother in shock.

"Don't you dare say that about Ni-san! He loves us! He's our brother! Don't you dare say bad things about him!" screamed Kadaj as he advanced on his long-haired brother angrily.

"Kadaj." Said Cloud helplessly, trying to understand how the situation had degenerated so quickly.

Loz's knees gave out and the big man collapsed to the ground, sobbing. Cloud crouched down beside him in alarm, but the oldest of the Advents just kept crying. Tentatively, as if bracing himself for some kind of pain, he very lightly rested a hand on Loz's shoulder and turned to watch the fight unfolding before him.

"How can you take his side? What has he ever done for us?" demanded Yazoo vehemently, glaring hotly at Kadaj.

"He gave us a second chance!" roared Kadaj, beyond furious.

"_Aerith_ gave us a second chance!" Yazoo insisted right back.

"Mother returned our lives, but Ni-san is giving us a second chance at a _real family_ Yazoo! Why can't you _see _that?"

"He's _not_ family! He wasn't there with us in the Labs! He wasn't there when we fought our way free of those _monsters_! He wasn't there when we were lost out in wilderness with nothing but our weapons and our clothes! He _killed_ us Kadaj! He's the reason we were dead in the first place!"

"Stop fighting!" wailed Loz pitifully, his face a mess of tears as he sat on the ground, clinging to Cloud's shirt like a child.

"I don't care! I _don't care_ about that! He's family _now_! He's the reason we exist at all you idiot! If he hadn't killed Aniue, _we wouldn't exist_! He's nice to us! He'll take care of us!" He took a deep breath, trembling silently. "He'll take care of us." Finished Kadaj in a whisper, suddenly tired with tears streaming stubbornly down his face, his eyes begging his brother to understand.

Yazoo's heart broke at the sight and he hung his head, the fight completely gone from him. He scowled at the ground and sighed, absently kicking at the dirt. He knew he'd lost the argument as soon as his strong baby brother started crying.

"This is important to you, isn't it? You want this family so bad…" he said quietly, shuffling towards his younger sibling and carefully putting his arms around the smaller boy. Kadaj curled into him, nodding miserably.

"I want it Aniki. I want it _so much_. Please just _try_ to like him. _Please?_ He's really nice Aniki, I know he doesn't like to be around people much, but he helps them when they need it, and he's stayed with us this whole time. He could have just left, like he did all those other people back home." Said Kadaj, not noticing Cloud's visible flinch. "But he stayed with us Aniki, he _stayed_."

"What's to say he won't leave us like that too?" returned Yazoo, just as quietly.

"We're family. Family doesn't ever leave family. Not if they really love you." He replied, a slightly insane smile on his face as he clung to the one truth that had seen him through his darkest days.

"After all, you and Loz never left me."

Yazoo smiled and hugged his brother tighter.

Sensing that the fight was over and that is was safe to approach, Cloud tugged Loz to his feet and urged him over to his two embracing brothers, gently handing him over to the two. They welcomed him gladly and dried his tears.

"Don't cry Loz. Everything is ok now."

Uncomfortable, Cloud turned and walked away.

0o0o0

"Don't say it." Warned Cloud quietly as they unpacked the horses to begin their climb over the mountain. Elrohir smiled and adopted as innocent an expression he could.

"Say what my friend? I wasn't going to say anything." The elf assured, a cheeky smile on his face.

Cloud rolled his eyes and hefted the large pack of supplies that had been attached to his horse. Once the burden was gone, the animal nuzzled the blonde's hair affectionately before trotting off into the woods with the other horses. The elves watched them go somewhat sadly.

"Lead on, oh fearless guide." Said Cloud, checking to make sure his weapons were accessible around the bulk of the pack. Lasthas took the lead, and together they made their slow accent. Orolon estimated that it would take them four days to cross the mountain and another three to reach Caras Galadhon from the base.

"Ne Ni-san," said Kadaj quietly as he walked as close as he dared to his oldest brother, being very careful not to touch him.

"Hm?"

"We never did get to spar…all of us I mean." He said, glancing at Cloud's face.

"When we set up camp for the night. It will be trickier on the mountain side." Promised Cloud, giving his smallest brother a hint of a smile.

Kadaj beamed, pleased that Cloud had agreed to spend more time with them. He spread the word to his other two brothers through their mind link and was pleased to find them in ready agreement.

"Hey." Said Yazoo, calling a halt to their progress. "We won't get very far at this rate. Why don't we carry the elves and jump?" he offered, shooting glances at his brothers.

"Sure. We could do that." Said Loz, happy that his brother's weren't fighting anymore.

"Carry us? Are you mad?" asked Lasthas.

"Can you? I know the jumps will be little problem for you, but can you carry us as well?" asked Elrohir, the only one of the elves to even seriously consider the idea.

"El, surely they are joking. It is not possible." Said Elladan.

"I hope you will not want us to return the favor." Said Orolon with a disbelieving smile.

"I'm serious. We can do it." Growled Yazoo challengingly.

"You guys weigh practically nothing. It will be keeping the balance that's tricky. Besides, we could do it as training." Said Cloud, giving a half smirk at the elves dubiously amused expressions and at Kadaj's blinding smile.

"Yeah! As Training! It will be good for us." Said Kadaj.

"You cannot be serious." Said Lasthas with growing horror as he observed the determined expressions of the four non-elves.

Instead of answering, Yazoo simply lifted the startled and squawking elf onto his shoulder, pack and all, and jumped ten feet up the mountain side in one easy bound. Kadaj laughed merrily and lifted an indignant Elladan onto his shoulders, warning the elf to hang on tightly before he followed suit.

"We'd better keep up." Said Cloud, lifting a protesting Elrohir and watching as Loz easily picked up an equally irate Orolon. They bounded up towards the other two and paused to make sure the unhappy elves were situated and that the supplied were in no danger of falling.

"Race you!" cried Loz as he suddenly sprung into action, completely ignoring the elf that was demanding that he stop.

"Hey!" yelled Kadaj in protest as he and the others gave chase, springing up the mountain side with a strength and agility that betrayed their SOLDIER status. The elves clung frantically to whatever bit of cloth they could find, screaming for the mortals to put them down immediately.

Despite the discomfort of the elves and the verbal lashing they gave the completely unrepentant Advents, the party _did_ make it to a point on the mountain that would have take them another day to reach on foot before nightfall.

"Ne Ni-san! Lets spar now!" said an entirely too chipper Kadaj as he bounced over to his blonde brother. Cloud smiled and dropped his pack to the ground beside the camp fire the scowling elves had going. Elrohir shot him a withering look when he glanced his way.

"Help set up Kadaj, and then we'll see about getting some of that energy out of you."

"I'll help too." Said Loz as he quickly set up bedding and started pulling out the pre-portioned dry food, mostly _lembas_ bread and dried meat from their earlier hunts. When everything had been set up and watches had been set, the Advents pulled their weapons out and the elves settled down to watch.

"No fatal injuries please, no destruction of the mountain side, don't use any summons or overly flashy magic ok?" said Cloud, easily spinning two of his giant swords in his hands as he walked sideways, circling his opponents. The Advents all smiled and gave a soft chorus of 'Yes, Ni-san's and then simultaneously leapt at him.

The elves sat up in shock, their eyes held wide with awe as they watched the blonde work furiously to fight off the three harmonized silver haired attackers. Each fought with skill and precision, their bodies moving in an infinitely beautiful dance.

Blade met blade as Cloud blocked an over handed strike from Loz's board sword, his second blade coming up to turn aside Souba's forward slash. He back flipped tightly to avoid a double bladed spin from Yazoo's twin long knives and then the four of them were off, jumping easily from rock to rock on the mountain side, blocking and striking and evading. Kadaj landed a glancing blow to the base of Cloud's right hand sword, sending the blade spinning from his hand to land imbedded in another part of the mountain. Cloud blocked a second strike before drawing a new sword from his back, spinning to throw Kadaj backwards and catch another strike from Loz. He forced Yazoo's two knives to the ground with a cross down block, then whipped them to the side, forcing the longhaired Advent to spin away from him. A sideways jump later and Cloud had put the two blades in his hands together, making one larger blade, and had retrieved his fallen third. The larger sword did not seem to affect his balance in the least, and he slashed downwards with it, throwing Souba to the side and catching Loz with the backstroke, drawing a thin line of blood across one arm.

Yazoo slammed one of his long knives into Cloud's left hand sword, the smaller, and then forced the blond to change his grip on the larger to block an upward stab from his second knife. Loz swung at Cloud's head from behind, making him duck and then flip forward over Yazoo's head, only to find Kadaj waiting for him with a forceful frontal thrust from Souba. Using his own larger sword as leverage, he put a foot on the base of Souba's twin blades and launched himself upwards, using Kadaj's arms like a spring board. With enough distance between them, Cloud added the third sword and drew a fourth.

Loz's body glowed purple-blue for a moment before he rushed at Cloud, the Speed Plus materia giving him an extra edge as fought furiously to gain a hit on the blonde. Kadaj and Yazoo double teamed from the sides, forcing Cloud backwards on the unstable rock. Cloud defended for a moment before shoving the three back with a two handed swing of both swords. Once he had room, he leapt further up the mountain side, assembling his blades as he went. The Advents gave chase. With all six swords assembled, he knocked the broad sword from Loz's hands, forcing him to dodge the much larger sword in his attempt to retrieve his own. Souba caught and twisted First Tsurugi between its two blades, but Cloud refused to give up his weapon and sent the smallest of the Advents flipping away from him, blade sparking as it dragged down the side of the much larger sword.

Yazoo faired better with a constant flurry of attacks at different angles from his two elven knives, forcing Cloud to break his weapon into two swords to defend against him. Cloud landed a heavy hit to Yazoo's right hand blade, pulling it from his fingers and sending it flying towards the ground. When the blade landed in the fire pit, Cloud put the full force of his right hand sword into Yazoo's remaining left-handed blade, sending the middle child skidding down the mountain side.

Kadaj and Loz attacked together, working to give Yazoo time to recover his weapon. Their synchronization wasn't as smooth as Loz and Yazoo's, affording Cloud a slight advantage. Kadaj, use to working alone, pushed forward without Loz to back him, slicing at Cloud's extended thigh. The blond caught the strike easily with his right hand blade and, using the bulk of his sword like a paddle, threw the youngest Advent backwards into Loz. Yazoo had by that time retrieved his fallen knife, pausing long enough to smirk at the stunned elves, and retook the offensive. Loz came to his aid, and the two employed their effective tag team style against their oldest living brother. Cloud, his back to the rocks, struggled to maintain his defense. He was slowly being pushed backwards and he knew that he needed more room and a decisive attack to regain control of the fight. His goal was to wear the Advents out, especially Kadaj, while absorbing as much of their fighting style as possible. He held back on his more powerful techniques, focusing instead on his control and endurance. The Advents seemed to have picked up on this and were likewise limiting themselves.

Kadaj, regaining his feet after being thrown backwards, watched the fight intently for an opening. Cloud jumped backwards, planted his feet on the wall of rock behind him and launched himself forward, over Loz and Yazoo's heads, blocking strikes as he went. Kadaj met him as he landed and the two traded a furious series of blows while Loz and Yazoo advanced from behind. Spinning furiously, Cloud blocked attacks from all sides before jumping straight up. When Loz followed him, he put enough force into his attack that the bigger man was pushed away from him, gravity pulling him towards the sloping ground. Loz tucked into a roll and was back on his feet a few yards away from where Kadaj and Cloud fought mid air. Cloud flipped himself over, one blade catching an incoming Souba, the other knocking aside Yazoo's upward thrust from beneath before he flipped again.

Kadaj gained ground, standing beside Yazoo as Loz came to join them. Cloud raised his blades before him, waiting quietly for the attack. A clanging sound reached up the mountain side from down below them where the elves had set up camp. Swords were clashing down below as the four elves engaged a number of skinny, sickly looking foes.

The Advents and Cloud raced down the mountain side, Kadaj's hand glowing white-blue as he called magic to him. Loz jumped forward and threw his broad sword, sending the heavy weapon spinning towards the fight. The blade caught one of the enemy square in the chest and threw him away from Elladan (or maybe Elrohir). Orolon and Lasthas were guarding each others backs, likewise with the twins. Lightning cracked and leapt from Kadaj's extended hand, striking three of the creatures at once. Cloud sliced another in half, spinning and striking with all of his considerable skill. Kadaj let the magic fade and attacked with Souba, following Yazoo into the fight. The Advents formed a protective circle around the elves, calling their kills to each other mentally. They faced some fifty or so creatures, working independently to kill them as quickly as possible. None of the creatures had the skill to require that the Advents work together.

Blood as black as ink soaked the ground as the Advents viciously ripped into the mass of attackers, severing heads and puncturing hearts. Every strike was fatal, not a single blow was wasted. When the last of the beasts had been dispatched, and all was quiet, the Advents held their positions, scanning the darkness for more.

'Loz and Yazoo stay here and guard the elves, Kadaj follow me.' Said Cloud in their heads as he sprinted off into the night in the direction the things had come from. Kadaj followed without question, not even sparing a glance for the brothers behind him. Yazoo and Loz took better positions, herding the elves back towards the cliff face, their bodies tense for an attack.

"So those weren't orcs right?" asked Loz, his broad sword held in a defensive position, eyes scanning the darkness.

"Goblins." Said one of the elves, he thought it was Lasthas.

"Are there lots of different kinds?" asked Yazoo, recalling the multitude of creatures native to their homeland.

"Ocrs, goblins, Uruk-hai, wrags, the fell beasts, the nine Ring Wraiths, and the occasional Balrog." Answered a tense but joking Elladan.

"Not so many then…" muttered Yazoo, shifting his grip on his twin long-knives. So far he hadn't had to use any of his other weapons, and it made him both prideful and uncomfortable. If he needed the weapons he hadn't tried yet and found them to be ineffective in combat, he'd rather find out in a minor skirmish than a large battle. This in mind, he sheathed his long-knives, gaining a curious glance and a mental sense of confusion from Loz, before he pulled the two daggers from his thighs, testing the grip and the weight.

Cloud and Kadaj returned a moment later, swords sheathed.

"Clear." Said Cloud, though his eyes kept searching the darkness.

"We found where they were coming out of the mountain and closed it up." Said Kadaj, smiling joyfully.

Loz put up his weapon with relief, and Yazoo sheathed his daggers with annoyance. So much for that plan.

"Kadaj." Said Elrohir as he put up his own blades.

"Hm?" asked the youngest Advent expectantly, skipping over to the elf.

"When the fighting was joined, what was it that sprung like lightning from you hand? Are you a wizard?"

Cloud sighed and then glared at the smallest brother.

"_You_ explain." He said, and stalked off to set himself up for first watch.

End part 9

Yay! Another chapter done! Thanks you to everyone who reviewed! I have a new beta reader called Inner Voice! Everyone be sure to say thank you! Anyways, I'm hoping that my time table matches up but we'll see what happens. The Advents and Cloud have made the first of many steps towards being a family, but it will be a long and bumpy ride yet! Stay tuned for more bunny-inspired thrills!


	10. Chapter 10

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

By: Lazeralk

Standard disclaimers apply.

Lasthas and Orolon are mine. I made them up.

Once again, ("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. 'Blah' is the Advents and Cloud sharing thoughts.

Sorry for the delay in update, I was whisked off to Arizona to visit some family and then my final exams tried to kill me.

0o0o0

"So you use magic?" asked Elrohir, gazing at Kadaj with a great deal of confusion.

"Yes."

"But you aren't wizards?"

"No."

"How is that possible? A wizard is someone who uses magic. Are you one of the two missing Blue Wizards?"

"No. I'm not a wizard. I'm just Kadaj." Said the smallest of the advents, quickly becoming frustrated.

"But you can use magic. You must be a wizard." Insisted the dark haired elf.

"Anyone can use materia." Argued Kadaj, hands on his hips as he scowled at the elf. He thought he had already explained this.

"Will you both shut up go to sleep already?" groused Yazoo from his bedroll, glaring balefully at them both.

"I want to understand this Yazoo." Requested Elrohir as he sat beside the campfire, a placating smile on his face.

"Here." Said Kadaj, taking Elrohir's hand in his own and curling the elven fingers around a small glowing orb.

"Close your eyes and concentrate on the materia. What do you feel?" said Kadaj, letting the elf hold the crystallized life-stream on his own.

"I feel…warm. Whole. It's…it's…" struggled Elrohir, a contemplative frown on is face.

"Like coming home after a long journey and knowing that everything is alright." Said Cloud, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Yes," agreed Elrohir with a quick smile to Cloud. "You say that anyone can use this?"

"Anyone can use materia. Not everyone is good at it, but we're all capable." Answered Cloud.

"That's Restore Materia. It's used for healing. It's the same kind of materia I used to heal myself and my brothers when we first met." He added, tossing another stick into the fire from his own bedroll.

"This is unlike the healing Adar uses." Said Elrohir as he examined the orb.

"What do you mean?" asked Kadaj.

"Adar does not rely on objects to heal. The power comes from within us." He explained, handing the materia back.

Kadaj tucked it away with a soft frown and went to curl up beside Cloud. The blonde eyed the smallest one before he sighed and lay down. Yazoo and Loz were already asleep, pressed close together.

0o0o0

Cloud awoke well before dawn and checked his companions before he slid two heavy swords from their sheaths and proceeded to stretch. Orolon regarded him calmly from his place on watch, a slight frown on his impossibly beautiful face as he watched the moody blonde begin to work.

The camp came alive shortly after, the elves rising from their strange wide-eyed sleep and immediately setting about breakfast. The three Advents slept on, though Kadaj curled into a tight ball and shivered.

"Cloud, when you're finished, could you come help me a bit?" asked Elrohir, setting up a small cook pot. They had to eat the rest of the meat before it rotted. They simply didn't have time to smoke or dry it.

"Sure." Said Cloud, not pausing in his routine.

Cloud finished his stretches and put up his blades before he went to see what the dark haired elf wanted of him.

"Cut these up please." Said Elrohir, handing him a small knife and few long strips of rabbit meat. Cloud set to the task silently while Elrohir regarded him quietly.

"Thanks you, for coming dashing to our rescue last night." Said the elf, his tone flippant.

"Your welcome." Said Cloud, eyeing the elf with some confusion.

"While I thank you for your concern, I must say it was a bit reckless of you. We elves have been fighting fouler things than goblins for centuries you know. We can handle ourselves." Elrohir admonished gently.

Cloud shot him an inquisitive look.

"After your fight with your brothers, I have no doubt that you are a great warrior, but rushing headlong into battle after such exertion can't be good for you." The elf said, giving the blonde a weighted look.

Cloud looked away as he finished cubing the meat and dropped the last of the pieces into the cook pot. He quietly cleaned the knife and stored it away, pondering the elf's words.

When Elrohir turned to leave, the blonde stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"I'm…sorry. I guess…I'm use to being…ah. I didn't mean to imply that you couldn't look after yourselves. I'm sorry if I insulted you." He said quietly, not willing to look the elf in the eye.

"No harm done my friend. It's mostly my ego that suffered." Assured Elrohir with a gentle smile.

"Still." Said Cloud with a frown.

"Think on it no more my friend. Go and rouse your brothers, will you?"

Cloud nodded and cast a quick glance at his host, chewing on his lip as he thought. He called to his brothers in their minds and with his voice and they woke quickly, Kadaj immediately coming to his side. Food was distributed and camp broken quickly. Lasthas estimated that they'd reach the forests outskirts of Lorien by late afternoon if they set a brisk pace.

0o0o0

("Halt!") called a voice from seemingly no-where as the small party entered the trees.

The Advents immediately drew weapons and formed a tight circle. Lasthas laughed joyfully, shocking the silver haired warriors, before he began to speak in Sindarin.

"Peace my friends, we have reached the borders of Lothlorien." Whispered Elrohir to the Advents and Cloud, laying a soothing hand on the blonde's arm. Cloud barely contained his reflexive flinch at the contact and frowned but grudgingly put up his blade, silently urging his brothers to do the same.

The elves continued to chatter in Sindarin, their lovely faces jubilant. Kadaj shifted uncomfortably towards Yazoo, casting uneasy glances at Cloud.

'What are they saying Ni-san? Are they talking about us?' whispered Loz in Cloud's mind, his own unease apparent.

'I don't know Loz. There's not much we can do about it.' The blonde replied.

"Come my friends, we will be off. Though I have argued in your favor, the March Warden insists that you four must be blinded until we reach Caras Galadhon." Said Elrohir apologetically.

"Blinded?" demanded Yazoo harshly, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly.

"Why?" asked Kadaj, eyes wide with confusion.

"No mortal is allowed to know the way into the city. It has always been this way." Explained Orolon.

"But that's ridiculous. Can't the city be traced by energy output? Don't you have trade routes?" argued Kadaj.

The elves blinked uncertainly before Lasthas attempted an answer.

"Lorien conducts all trade outside her borders. What is meant by energy output?"

"I don't think the technology exists yet Kadaj." Said Cloud, hoping that the elves wouldn't pry too deeply into it. He received some odd looks but thankfully, the subject was dropped.

"I am sorry my friends, but this is the way it is done." Said Elrohir, spreading his hands in a helpless gesture. Cloud sighed, but nodded.

"But Ni-san!" said Kadaj, scowling at the approaching Lorien elves.

"Just do it Kadaj, it's not so bad. Think of it like training. Didn't you guys have to do some blind training back home? We did during basic." Said Cloud, calmly allowing himself to be blindfolded.

"Well, I guess it's ok if we do it as training." Mumbled Kadaj, still scowling but passive as he too was blindfolded.

Once all the non-elves were blinded, the twins and their two steady Lorien companions took a place at each of their elbows to guide them through the forest. Yazoo stepped heavily on Lasthas' foot before he found his pace, muttering an unrepentant apology. The elf grinned, but said nothing.

0o0o0

Cloud knew he probably looked a little ridiculous, masked and grinning as he attempted to blindly dodge his brother's attempts at sabotage. The four of them had broken away from their guides and had spent the final stretch to Caras Galadhon in a sort of impromptu race in which they would navigate the trees, keep pace with the jogging elves and attempt to hinder each others progress so that they could say they reached the city first.

He wasn't entirely sure how the race had started, but he knew it had something to do with Yazoo and Kadaj's brotherly bickering in their heads. Cloud could now clearly hear when the brothers conversed with each other, even if they were not speaking to him specifically. The elves found it all amusing and would occasionally join in, calling out to distract them or throw them off course. Sometimes they would knock things into their path, or go around a low hanging branch instead of ducking under.

They laughed loudly when Cloud slammed headfirst into such a branch and ended up on his rear in the leaves. Loz was the only one of his brothers who managed to contain himself long enough to ask if he was alright.

Of course, they did not think it so funny when the elves insured that they met the same fate.

"We're here." Said Elrohir, putting a stop to the race.

"Who won?" asked Kadaj as he pulled the blindfold from his eyes.

"Yazoo, actually." Answered Lasthas, giving the usually sullen teen a warm smile.

"Hn." Said the middle child, but the wide grin that spread across his face was unmistakably triumphant. Loz pouted but laid a gentle hand on his brother's shoulder, whispering congratulations in his head.

"Wow." Said Kadaj as he gazed around, tuning in circles as he tried to take everything in.

"The trees…" whispered Cloud as he too stood transfixed by the beauty of the place.

"Come, we're to be presented to the Lady." Said Orolon, gently taking Cloud by the elbow and guiding him deeper into the ancient and majestic forest. Cloud almost immediately shook off the touch but followed docilely enough.

"It's so pretty…" said Loz, allowing himself to be dragged along behind an amused Elladan.

"Like the city of the Ancients must have looked when the trees were still alive…" said Yazoo, equally spellbound and being led by Lasthas. Kadaj followed obediently behind Elrohir, still trying to turn in circles as he walked.

They walked in silence, the elves grinning in amusement as their charges walked with their chins tilted up, their eyes wide in childlike fascination.

They reached the base of a huge tree with several ropes hanging down from the branches, swaying invitingly.

'Welcome' whispered a woman's voice in their minds.

End part 10

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I love you all!


	11. Chapter 11

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

By: Lazeralk

Standard disclaimers apply.

Lasthas and Orolon are mine. I made them up.

Once again, ("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. 'Blah' is the Advents and Cloud sharing thoughts.

So, I'm going to hide behind Sephiroth here and hope you're all too scared of him to risk throwing the tomatoes…

0o0o0

Cloud paused, and then sent a hesitant 'Thank you' back at the voice. After all, it wasn't so very different from speaking to Aerith. Amusement sparkled along the edge of his awareness and he shook his head, walking calmly along side his brothers.

The trees were filled with structures and elves, all glancing down at them curiously. Several large groups of elves paused to look at them and comment to each other in their own language, studying the four mortals in their midst. Cloud shifted uncomfortably, his shoulders loosening, as he bore being the center of attention with his usual stoicism. Kadaj did not attempt to touch him this time, but he did send a cautious inquiry through his head.

'You ok, Ni-san?'

'Aa. You know how it is.' Replied the blonde, dutifully sending a strained smile at the younger.

'Hmm? What are you talking about Ni-san?' asked Kadaj, head cocking to the side in confusion.

'Sephiroth didn't like being stared at either.' Returned Cloud, face closing down as he strode away, leaving Kadaj to frown behind him.

"Well?" he asked, coming to stand beside Elrohir, who had been talking with a new elf he didn't recognize.

"Hm?" said Elrohir, turning to regard him.

"Are the people we're chasing here or have they moved on already?" asked Cloud, he voice sounding more terse than he'd intended. Still, the itching feeling between his shoulder blades, that told him he was being watched, was growing more and more aggravating for him and he refused to correct himself.

"They left two days ago, by boat. Word has it that the fellowship would be taking the path through Amon Hen and then onwards to Mordor. However, the March Warden's scouts have reported a very large army moving towards Rohan. We knew this of course, but we'd only guessed that the Fellowship would be in the Mark by then. My father and grandmother have some power of foresight and it seems more than likely now that it will be so."

"Then we aren't headed for Mordor?" asked Cloud, focusing on Elrohir's face intently in an effort to block out the uncomfortable sensation of being stared at.

"No, we'll make for Rohan tomorrow morning. We've made exceptional time, all things considered."

"I see…I'll…I'll be around…" he said, not looking at anyone as he strode away into the trees to try and find some peace. The heavy stares of all those strangers were too much for him. He hated being the center of attention even back home where all the people knew what had happened and what he'd done. It wasn't as bad here, because these people didn't know about the all people whose lives he'd taken, they didn't know about all the homes and families he'd destroyed. They didn't know how weak he was, how stupid. They didn't know about Sephiroth. They didn't know, but it still felt like they were judging him.

Cloud wandered quickly but aimlessly through the ancient forest, his heightened senses picking out the elves that followed him at a distance. He just walked until he couldn't hear them anymore and picked a tree. He sat at its base, elbows slung around his knees as he stared up at the fading sunlight coming through the tree tops. Slowly he began to calm down, the familiar itching weight began to lift from his shoulders and the tension slowly eased out of his body. He reveled in the quiet, in the sheer peace of being totally alone. He sucked in a deep breath and relaxed, his nose catching the faintest hint of Aerith's flowers. He sat there for a long time before he drifted off to sleep.

The darkness was softly lit, as if the moon were somehow enclosed with him beneath the trees, gently blanketing everything with silvery shadows. A woman in white, much too tall to be Aerith, walked steadily towards him through the fog. Her long gauzy dress and flowing golden hair floated around her as she moved, never seeming to become tangled or caught on the branches she passed.

Cloud watched her calmly, some sort of quite waiting filling him up and making his mind hazy. He stayed where he was, propped against his tree, totally relaxed and watched her come.

'Hello young one.' She whispered in his mind, the fog rolling around them like a soothing dream.

'Who are you?' he asked in return, his voice soft and curious. He was sure that he was dreaming; that none of this was real. And yet, it didn't quite feel right, but he couldn't muster up the energy to care.

'I am called Galadriel, Lady of the Golden Wood. Your heart bleeds dear one.' She answered, coming to a stop a few feet away from him, a shining White Lady.

'It's always bleeding.' He said, his eyes drooping shut.

'Only because you do nothing to staunch the flow little one.'

'You think I want to hurt all the time?' he asked, only mildly irritated.

'You want to be forgiven.'

'I know.' He said, thinking back to conversation he'd had with Aerith a few weeks ago. Was it really only a few weeks ago?

'You will forgive when you are ready child. When it is finished.'

'You mean the Advents? I don't know what I'm doing there. How do I help them be a family?'

'By first being a part of that family. The stars cannot tell the moon where to sit, stand aside and then say that the night sky is complete without them. The three of them are already a family together. It is you that must join them, and they who must join you.'

'But I…'

'Think on it, Cloud Strife. What does it mean to be a family, not your family, but any family? What does it need?'

'I don't know.' He whispered back, the hazy dreamlike feeling lifting from his mind.

"I don't know." He mumbled aloud, his eyes opening to find the forest dark with night. The silver glow of the moon was gone, along with the fog and the lady in white.

Cloud glanced around him to be sure she wasn't there, his eyebrows knit in confusion when he found nothing. Had it all been a dream?

'Aerith?' he called, rising slowly to his feet and wincing slightly at the kinks in his back.

'I'm here Cloud.' She whispered, and he was suddenly in her garden. He could feel her at his back, the bow in her hair ghosting along the skin of his exposed shoulder.

'Did that really happen?'

'It did. She's an interesting one, the Lady of the Golden Wood. You should listen to what she tells you. Now you better get going Cloud. Dawn is almost here.'

'I slept that long?'

'You did. They're worried about you.'

All at once he was alone in the forest again, and he sighed, squaring his shoulders and shifting the weight of his swords across his back. He reached out with his mind to touch Kadaj's and found him packing up new food supplies into his bags, Elrohir at his side. The younger looked up when he felt Cloud's mind brush against his awareness, as if by looking he could see him.

'Ni-san?'

'I'm ok, I'm coming back now. Just needed a direction to start walking in.' he explained, already moving towards them at a steady clip.

'Are you really ok? You just…left. Elrohir and Elladan were worried for you.' Pushed Kadaj, a wave of irritation and confused hurt rolling softly off of him. It was as if he were feeling the lingering echoes of Kadaj's emotions. Cloud concentrated on it, trying to make the feelings grow stronger, but they faded from him like mist. He continued walking, silent as he stewed in his own head. The words of the White Lady chased each other around his skull, refusing him any peace. What does it mean to be a family? What does it need? What does it mean? What does it need? Cloud didn't know. His own experiences with family had been limited to his mother. His father had abandoned them both soon after he'd been born and his mother was a sweet if distant figure of his past. He remembered that she'd loved him, but also that she'd done nothing to stop the other children from teasing and then later beating him as he grew up in Nibelheim.

He'd been different as a child, and the other kids had been ruthless. He was the only one who didn't have a father, the smallest for his age, the weakest of the boys. He'd been scorned and belittled from the beginning. His mother hadn't done anything. As a child he'd blamed her for it, held it against her in fits of uncomprehending childish rage. Looking back though, he could see that she'd been just as bullied as he had, he knew now that she'd understood, and that, in her own way, she'd been trying to let him be strong. She'd known that the other kids would have been worse to him if she'd come to his rescue. He'd hated her for it then, now he respected her for it.

She'd never know it. He'd never get to tell her that he didn't mean all the angry things he'd said to her as a teenager, that he understood why she'd done it. He wouldn't get to tell her that he loved her, or that he'd missed her, or anything really. Sephiroth had killed her. Her and everyone he'd ever know growing up.

Anger bubbled in him as he though of all the things he'd never get to say to her. Anger and helplessness and a sense of regret so sharp he raised a hand to his chest and rubbed at the center where it was tight with a pain that had nothing to do with the body and everything to do with the heart. He rubbed at that spot and the White Lady's words came back to him. What does it mean to be a family? What does it need?

'I don't like crowds. I hate being stared at.' He said to Kadaj, and lightly, hesitantly, to Yazoo and Loz.

He paused and he could feel them tense. He couldn't exactly see them, but the knowledge was there, a feeling of them. They'd stopped what they were doing, all three of them and stood in silence, ignoring those around them who had turned to them in confusion, asking what was wrong. They stood tense and still, waiting, just as they'd done when Sephiroth had addressed them.

'I've never liked a lot of people around me, even when I was a kid. I got beat up a lot when I was little. I was the outcast of Nibelheim. The kid without a dad, the scrawny girly-looking one. Lots of people around usually meant I was about to get hurt. I joined SOLDIER to get away from it, to stop being all the things they called me. It was hundred times worse in the army. But I had friends for the first time in my life. I had people who would look out for me and teach me to actually be something. Zack was like a miracle to me. He was everything to me. Him and Sephiroth. They didn't judge me on my looks or my height. They just handed me a sword and said 'This is how you stand when you block this strike.' It was amazing. And then. Well, you know what happened. Then everyone was staring at me for other reasons. Some of them hated me, blamed me, and scorned me. That wasn't any different from what I was use to, but some of them... They looked at me like I was Sephiroth. They looked at me like I'd done something great, like I'd do something great again, if they just watched for it. In a way, that was worse than being hated. I wasn't anyone great. I was just some fucked up experiment that had been dragged out of Hojo's lab one night. I never even made it to SOLDIER 3rd. All my skills with a blade came from Zack. It's not mine. Not any of it. But they all stared at me like I was worthy of it, and I'm not. I'm really not.'

Cloud fell silent as his feet took him down paths set gently into the ground. He was in the city now, coldly ignoring any of the curious elves he passed along his way. Kadaj was just a few yards away from him, watching him with sane eyes. Yazoo drifted out of the trees to his left and there was something different about him. The elves had pulled thin locks of hair away from his face at his temples and put them in the same looping braids they were fond of. Cloud absently noted that it looked good on him, made his face stand out. Loz came up behind his brother and the three of them began to walk towards him. He'd scold himself later for his inattention, but in that moment, he only had eyes for those three young men, his family, striding towards him.

"Ni-san." Said Kadaj, as gently as he'd ever heard him, and he slowly raised a hand in his direction. Cloud gave the slightest of nods and Kadaj was suddenly in his arms holding him tight and trembling with a fierce joy that Cloud felt down to his very bones. Loz wrapped himself around them both and laughed out loud, tears streaming down his face. Only Yazoo stood apart from it all, his face solemn. He waited until the other two had disentangled themselves and backed a step away before he placed his hand firmly on Cloud's shoulder. The look on his face just then wasn't joy or even real acceptance, but it wasn't hostile anymore and it was a beginning. Cloud returned that look with something close to a smile, not on his face, but in his eyes.

'This will be hard. For all of us I mean. Maybe it won't even work out, but it might. And I'm willing to try, to really truly try. I can only ask the same of you.' Said Cloud. He said it to all of them, but he held Yazoo's eyes and Yazoo quirked his lips in a pale imitation of a smile and tightened his hold on Cloud's shoulder.

A small, shy smile slowly tugged at his lips until Kadaj and Loz were both beaming at them and the wind that blew past them carried the scent of Aerith's flowers and her joyous tinkling laughter.

End part 11

Sorry about the delay in update guys. I just hit a brick wall with this story and then all the sudden I dreamed about it one night and this is what happened.


	12. Chapter 12

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

By: Lazeralk

Standard disclaimers apply.

Once again, ("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. 'Blah' is the Advents and Cloud sharing thoughts.

0o0o0

The new horse under him had the same strange rolling gait of the first horse, but Cloud was more use to it this time around and didn't mind so much. He still thought bikes were the only real way to travel, but he held his tongue. Elladan had kindly packed his bag for him while he'd been off in the woods on his own and had been good enough to not comment on it when he'd handed it to the wayward blonde earlier that morning. Elrohir was strangely silent about the whole affair as well and it made Cloud only a little uneasy with anticipation. He was waiting for the elves to question his whereabouts and the meaning behind the scene they'd caused that morning.

Kadaj rode along beside him, absolutely beaming with joy. Loz was chattering away about broad sword technique with Elrohir a few paces behind them and Yazoo was urging his own horse a little faster to walk on his other side. Cloud greeted him with a flick of his eyes and hum of warm energy. Yazoo returned the glance, but was silent on his end of their shared mind link. Cloud almost sighed, but he knew that Yazoo would be the hardest to win over.

They were following the river on horseback, Galadriel's foresight having put them on the correct side to be following the fellowship towards Amon Hen by land. The elves that had led them to Lorien had stayed behind; it was only the twins that guided the four mortal warriors towards their destination. Elrohir and Elladan argued in their own language a few paces behind them, heads bent together over the necks of their horses.

Cloud ignored them, glancing at Kadaj who met his eyes and smiled blindingly. He wanted to ask so many things, wanted to know all kinds of things about his brothers, but he dared not ask. They had given him the time and space he'd needed to come to them on his own and would do the same for them.

They camped a half day from Amon Hen that night. With the fire built and a rabbit supper past, they sat in comfortable silence for a time before one of the twins, Cloud could never tell them apart, nudged his bother in the ribs with an elbow and a pointed look. The other twin returned the look but cleared his throat and hesitantly addressed him.

"Cloud, we were perhaps wondering if you would tell us of your homeland? Or perhaps give us a song of your history?" He said, his brother nodding encouragingly behind him.

"You want to know about Gaia?" Asked Kadaj, curiously glancing at Cloud.

"I am _not_ singing _anything_." Growled Cloud, his expression the most thunderous they'd ever seen on him.

"Tell us about Nibelheim then Nii-san." Demanded Loz eagerly.

"Nibelheim?" said one of the twins.

"My home town." Clarified Cloud, a frown still on his face.

"Oh yes, tell us about it Cloud." Said Kadaj, shifting closer to his only blond brother.

"Haven't you been there yourself?" Hedged Cloud, not really wanting to talk about it.

"Not really, we passed by there on our way to Northern Crater, but we didn't actually go look around or anything." Said Loz.

"Perhaps you could tell us of its history? How was it founded?" suggested one of the twins, Cloud thought it might be Elrohir, since he was clearly trying to help him out. Ancient history seemed a safe enough topic to talk about, especially since Sephiroth wasn't mentioned anywhere.

Cloud thought for a moment and then nodded, licking his lips nervously before he began.

"Well, keep in mind that this is all legend, passed down by word of mouth. It all happened a long time ago." He paused here, looking around to see that they had all accepted his warning. He was slightly surprised to see that all of his brothers, Yazoo included, looked very interested to hear the old wives tales he'd heard growing up.

"Ok, so, the story goes like this. There once was a kingdom, further south than where Nibelheim is today, called Nibelungenlant. Legend has it that the ruling king, called Gjúki and his wife Queen Ode, had three sons and a daughter. The three sons were Giselher, Gunnar and Gutthom, the daughter was called Grímhild.

Ok, so at the same time, in the area that is now Nibelheim, the king had died and left two sons, Schillbung and Nibelung. They were trying to divide their father's kingdom and wealth between them so that they could both be kings, but they couldn't agree on who got to keep what. Then a man called Sigurd, no one knows quite where he came from, approached them. The two brothers asked Sigurd to help them settle their dispute but ended up attacking both him and each other when Sigurd didn't favor one over the other. So, forced to defend himself, Sigurd killed them both and named himself king.

Back in Nibelungenlant, Giselher had inherited the throne and was defending his kingdom from the Huns, a people who came from the southeast of Nibelungenlant. The Huns were let by Atli, who, after defeating Giselher attempted to force Grímhild to marry him so that he would have a claim to the throne of Nibelungenlant. He was killed before he could though, by a young man called Aldrian, who has his own somewhat strange relation to Queen Ode. He's her illegitimate grandson I think. Anyways, so he takes the throne of Nibelungenlant and forces what remains of the royal family to flee the kingdom as to not challenge his right to the crown. All that remains at this point is Queen Ode, Gunnar, Gutthom and their sister Grímhild. They moved north, into Nibelheim, which was still being ruled by King Sigurd.

This is where it gets a little tricky.

Sigurd had heard the tale of Brünhild, a famous Valkyrie who had been cursed to a mortal life by Odin and imprisoned in a tower of shields. She lay in an enchanted sleep surrounded by a ring of fire that no one but her true love could cross. So he set out to rescue her and did actually manage to cross the ring of fire. He fell in love her immediately and promised to marry her. He set off back to Nibelheim to both prepare for the wedding and to find a wizard, leaving Brünhild behind in the tower. _He_ could cross the ring of fire, but she could not. He was hoping the wizard would be able to free her.

At this point, Queen Ode and her children had arrived in Nibelheim and Queen Ode, who was a powerful sorceress, decided to marry her daughter Grímhild to Sigurd. So she gave Sigurd a magic potion that made him completely forget about Brünhild. Sigurd then happily married Grímhild. Queen Ode, having secured a place in the royal family of Nibelheim, then set out make Brünhild the wife of her son Gunnar. However, because Gunnar was not Brünhild's true love, he could't cross the ring of fire. So Queen Ode convinced Sigurd to do it for him. She used her power to make Sigurd look like Gunnar, who then crossed the ring of fire and told Brünhild that Sigurd had forsaken her for another and that he had come to rescue her. So, Brünhild married Sigurd, but believed she had married Gunnar.

Queen Ode then destroyed the ring of fire and Brünhild was set free. She and Sigurd returned to Nibelheim where Sigurd and Gunnar switched places. Brünhild and Grímhild both bore their husbands children. Then one day, Brünhild and Grímhild got into an argument over whose husband was better and Brünhild boasted that Gunnar was the better man because it was proven that he was her true love, as he had crossed the ring of fire successfully. However, Sigurd, who now remembered his love for Brünhild, revealed the truth that it was actually him that she had married. Brünhild, enraged at being made of fool of, and hurt that her real true love had not only forsaken her but had deceived her into marring Gunnar, swore revenge. She tried to goad Gunnar into killing Sigurd, but Gunnar refused to kill his brother by marriage. Remember that Sigurd had married Gunnar's sister Grímhild. So Brünhild went to Queen Ode and had her make a magic potion that would induce rage and fed it to Gunnar's younger brother Gutthom. She then sent Gutthom to kill Sigurd, who actually succeeded. However, once Sigurd was dead, Brünhild realized what she'd done. That is, she'd caused the death of her one true love, and in her grief, she flung herself onto his funeral pyre and died. Gunnar then took the throne and his family ruled Nibelheim for generations.

And so it is said that the people of Nibelheim are descended from the children of the royal family of Nibelungenlant, King Sigurd and the Valkyrie Brünhild."

Silence followed the conclusion of his tale and Cloud shifted nervously. His audience seemed to be deep in thought.

"What happened to Queen Ode? Was she ever punished for her meddling?" asked Elrohir.

"Who exactly is Odin? And what is a Valkyrie?" said Elladan.

"Ah, well I don't know about Queen Ode, but Odin is an Æsir and the king of Asgard and there are all kinds of stories about him. Asgard is one of the nine realms, where the gods live; the realm of mortals is called Midgard. Odin turned the souls of shield-maidens into Valkyries who hover over battlefields and collect the souls of fallen warriors. They then escort them to Valhalla, another of the nine realms where they live and train to fight for the gods at Ragnarok. Ragnarok is the battle prophesized to end the world and end the age of gods." Said Cloud.

"Where is Nibelungenlant?" asked Loz.

"Eh, sort of north of Gongaga and east of Cosmo Canyon." answered Cloud.

"So Midgar was named for Midgard?" asked Kadaj blinking curiously.

"Yes, although Midgar was destroyed and the new city build from its ruins is called Edge." Said Cloud.

"I knew that." Kadaj snapped, and then looked immediately apologetic.

'Sorry Nii-san.' He whispered in the blonde's head. Cloud smiled at him, letting him know without words that there was nothing to forgive.

"And Midgar is?" asked Elladan.

"It's the capital city of our country." Answered Cloud evasively.

"You lived there too, right Nii-san?" said Yazoo, his face mocking.

Could stared at him, then nodded. He didn't want to talk about his time in Midgar either. Instead, he sent a quick, considering glance at the elven twins.

"You know, my people also have stories about elves." He said, knowing that it would gain their interest and prevent Yazoo from digging into his issues with Sephiroth and Shin-Ra.

"You do? What kind of stories?" demanded Elrohir, looking slightly suspicious.

"_Your_ people, Nii-san?" said Kadaj with a look between offended and curious.

"Nordic." Answered Cloud with the hint of a grin, eyeing Kadaj's very non-nordic silver hair and cat green eyes.

"Your Elf stories?" pushed Elladan.

"Ah, well, the word actually started as 'alfar' but I'm pretty sure it means the same thing. There are all kinds of weird stories about them, but I guess I could tell you one for tonight. You probably won't like it though." He added with a grin. The twins frowned but urged him on anyways.

Cloud spent the rest of the night telling them about how a mortal woman discovered that her baby was a changeling, switched for her own child by the alfar, and how she brewed beer in an acorn and got the changeling to admit what it was through surprise. She then found her own child returned to her and the changeling gone. The twins criticized the story harshly, saying that the Eldar would never do such a ridiculous thing.

As the group settled down into sleep Elrohir reflected that they should make Cloud tell stories more often, as he had laughed twice that night and smiled more in the one night than he had the entire time the elf lord had known the moody blonde.

0o0o0

"This is not good." Said Loz as he studied the base of a tree at Amon Hen. Elrohir moved to join him and grimaced in distaste. The corpse of an orc lay on ground, a wide cut, opening like a gaping mouth, spilled black blood and thicker things from the beast's gut.

("Brother!") Called Elladan from a few yards away. He and Yazoo knelt by another tree, their faces grim. The trunk of the tree and the ground around it were splattered with a red-brown liquid that could only be the blood of one of the Fellowship they tracked.

("Please let it not be Estel.") whispered Elladan to himself.

"A day or so old, at most. We're catching up." Announced Yazoo, his voice cold, his face impassive as he surveyed the blood and the now chilled corpses of several orcs that lay in the clearing. Elrohir shot him a look as he laid a hand on his twin's shoulder.

"Which way now?" asked Loz as he came to stand beside his brother.

"Did they keep going? Are we going to follow them?" asked Kadaj as he too wandered over to join them. Cloud tracked a few sets of foot prints past them towards the sound of rushing water, blood dotting along the trail. Frowning, he made his way back to his party as the elves had a whispered conversation in their own language.

"There's a fairly wide trail of footprints heading that way." Said Kadaj, pointing in the opposite direction of the river that Cloud had found.

"A wide trail?" asked Elrohir.

"Yeah, a pretty big group, thirty maybe."

The elves deliberated for a moment, then decided that they would follow the wide trail.

"These are probably orc tracks, but they lead almost directly south of the Limlight." Said Elladan as they walked.

"So?" said Loz.

"South of the Limlight is Rohan, where we were headed anyways." Answered Elrohir.

"Orcs are headed towards Rohan from here? I though your scouts said they were going to Rohan from Mordor? Isn't that in the wrong direction?" asked Cloud.

"Yes, it is the wrong direction. Thirty is a fairly large group for orcs. They usually only travel in bands of six or seven. A group this large must be here on orders from Mordor, but to what end? Are they the only large grouping this far north of Mordor? Were they sent against the Fellowship?" asked Elrohir anxiously.

"I thought Sauron wasn't supposed to know about the Fellowship." Said Kadaj.

"He's not, but he's Sauron. He has his ways of knowing such things I'm sure. Gandalf once said he thought Sauron could sense the presence of the Ring. Surely he's noticed that it's been moving steadily towards him." Said Elladan.

"We'd better get a move on then. What if this group of orcs is meeting up with the army your scouts saw? We might not make the battle at this rate." Said Cloud.

The trees thinned into open plains as they moved. A large forest loomed in the distance to one side, but the plains continued around the forest as far as their eyes could see. The forest was a dark and menacing thing, even from their great distance. Cloud could feel the ever-lingering grips of his customary depression growing stronger the longer he stared at the black trees.

"The tracks lead towards the woods over there." Reported Yazoo.

"That's Fangorn Forest. We'll go straight across the plains to Edoras. We'll make better time I think. It will be a week or more to cross the plains, it we take the straightest path." Said Elrohir, urging his horse into a quick canter. The others were quick to follow and there was no more conversation for the rest of the day as they rode hard across the plains.

0o0o0

End Part 12

Information for this chapter comes from the Volsunga Saga, The Tale of Brünhild (The Encyclopedia of Norse Mythology), and Der Nibelungenleid. I know some of the references are somewhat incorrect, but I wanted to bend the old myths to fit FF7 and picked the genealogy that was simplest, since all three sources conflict on who was related to who and in what ways they were related. The changeling story comes from the Grimm fairy tales.

As always, I thank you for your patience with me, this story seems to be growing more fickle with its inspiration all the time. No promises for the next chapter though, but I think there will be more storytelling…

Thanks to all my reviewers! You make me want to keep fighting to finish this story.


	13. Chapter 13

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

By: Lazeralk

Standard disclaimers apply.

Once again, ("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. 'Blah' is the Advents and Cloud sharing thoughts.

0o0o0

Cloud considered himself to be fairly good at roughing it, after all, he'd been practically living on his bike for months at a time back home. This day after day on a horse thing however was decidedly rougher. Horses were not exactly smooth rides and the constant on and off to feed and water and rest them was more of a hassle than he was use to. He took good care of his bike, but it didn't need the constant attention that the horse did and Cloud wished more fervently for his bike than ever. He could cross these plains on Fenrir in a quarter of the time they were taking on these blasted animals.

'I want my bike back too Ni-san.' Whispered Loz, still a little uncertain of his welcome in Cloud's head, even after all this time together. Cloud flashed him a small smile in return, sending a warm hum of energy at the burly teen slightly behind and to the left of him. Loz beamed back and glanced at Yazoo for approval. He pouted and looked a little close to crying when Yazoo scowled fiercely at him. Cloud sighed.

They camped in the open that night, not daring to risk a fire in the dry and brittle grass. The horses, elven bred and raised, didn't need to be tethered. They grazed contentedly nearby after their tack had been removed, hooves seen to, and they'd been brushed down. Cloud was careful not to scan the open plains too overtly, mentally cautioning his brothers to be mindful of the glow their mako enhanced eyes cast in the darkness. Kadaj raised a hand to hip level and a single Lurker emerged from the shadows. He sat down on the ground and the massive beast laid down behind him, making a comfortable, if boney, back rest for the youngest of the advents. The twins eyed the Lurker a little warily but didn't comment and thankfully, Kadaj didn't seem to notice. The shadowy creature laid its head down on its clawed front feet and settled down to sleep in a decidedly canine sort of way.

"Well Ni-san? Do we get a new story tonight?" asked Kadaj lazily as they gazed up at the spectacular expanse of stars. Cloud studied them a long moment, an uncomfortable feeling churning in his stomach as he looked up at the stars. They were very beautiful, but there wasn't a single shape he recognized in them. He frowned, the full impact of the alien sky finally hitting him.

'We're on a different freaking planet.' He thought to himself, astonished. He was both a little frightened and angry at the thought.

'I know, couldn't you feel it Ni-san? There's no Lifestream here.' Said Kadaj in his head, watching the blonde closely.

Cloud sent him a curious look, ignoring the twins who were frowning at them all, eyes darting between the four seated SOLDIERS.

"It's rather rude to have conversations like that when we're standing here waiting for you to answer the question you know." Said Elrohir, arms crossed over his chest.

"Sorry, just an odd thought. I do want an answer though 'Daj." Said Cloud.

"You called me 'Daj!" squealed Kadaj, crawling across the space between them and practically throwing himself into Cloud's side, arms wrapped under his sword holster and around his slim waist.

"Kadaj." Said Cloud, a slightly annoyed manner. The youngest detached himself and then crawled back over to his previous spot.

"Kadaj." Said Cloud again, this time prompting with his tone.

"What?"

"How do you know this planet doesn't have a Lifestream?"

"We can feel it. Well, we could when we were back on Gaia anyway." Answered Kadaj, a slight crease to his brow betraying his confusion.

"It was sort of abrasive. I imagine it sort of felt like Geostigma to you. We carried so much of Mother in us that the Lifestream was constantly pushing against us." Said Yazoo, gazing up at the stars and pointedly not looking at anyone.

"We don't feel anything here." Said Loz, absently tearing bits of grass apart in his large hands.

"Pardon, but what is Lifestream?" asked Elrohir.

"And Geostigma?" added Elladan immediately after.

"Lifestream flows through our planet, dictating the cycles of life and death. The Lifestream is…energy I suppose, the very energy that can only be called 'Life'. When living things die they return to the Lifestream and when living things are born they come from the Lifestream. It is the energy and the…conscious of the Planet. It is a physical thing, powerful and everywhere. Our materia is actually crystallized Lifestream, which is usually more liquid in appearance." Explained Cloud patiently.

"Geostigma was our invitation to Reunion…" said Kadaj before Cloud cut him off.

"Geostigma is a painful affliction caused by the body's natural defense system trying to fight off a foreign infection." He said stiffly, glaring headedly at Kadaj and daring him to say anything else about it. Kadaj opened his mouth, a scathingly angry reply on the tip of his tongue, before he realized why his Nii-san was so upset. Talking about Geostigma could lead to talking about Mothe-Jenova, he must remember to call her Jenova, and that would lead to talking about Aniue and Ni-san didn't like to talk about Aniue. He bowed his head and looked away.

Cloud sighed and picked at the grass around his feet, eyes distant as they lapsed into silence. The twins shared a weighted look and turned to gauge each of their otherworldly charges. Cloud seemed to have withdrawn completely and was steadily destroying the grass in his immediate area. Kadaj scowled into the distance, head turned fully away from the blonde and Yazoo stared down at his hands, folded in his lap, looking absolutely disgusted with all of them. Loz was looking hopelessly between his brothers, on the verge of tears as he sniffed quietly.

"Once upon a time, there was a poor miller's wife who had one daughter. Her fondest wish was for her daughter to marry well so that she and her husband would be looked after when they were too old to work." Began Cloud, startling all of them. Kadaj's head whipped around to face him, excitement filling up his face as he seemed to forget all about his earlier disagreement with the blonde. The twins visibly relaxed, shooting sly smiles at each other as if to say they'd known all along that things would turn out alright.

"She was so determined in this that she let her tongue get carried away with her, and was soon making wild claims about her daughter's virtues to anyone who would listen. She claimed that her daughter was the most beautiful girl in all the land, which was not so unusual for a mother, since all mothers think the best of their children. But then she started to claim that her daughter had a most unusual and amazing talent, that she could spin ordinary straw into pure gold. These rumors soon reached the ear of the King, who was very greedy. He had the girl brought to him at once and set her in a room filled with straw and a spinning wheel. He told her that if she spun all the straw in the room into gold before the night was over, he would marry her, but if she didn't, he was have her killed for lying to him. Of course it didn't matter that the girl had never made any such claim, but the King didn't care. He locked her in the room and resolved to see her in the morning.

The girl, who, naturally, was terrified, started crying uncontrollably. Just then a strange voice called to her and said: 'Poor Miller's Daughter, why are you crying?' The girl looked up and there was a little man, not two feet tall looking up at her. 'I must spin all this straw into gold before morning or I shall be put to death and I haven't the slightest idea how!' she cried. 'Well,' said the little man, 'What will you give me if I spin it for you?' 'You may have my necklace if it pleases you.' She answered, and gave it to him. The little man took it and set to work at once. The girl watched in amazement as the little man spun the straw into gold with ease, just three turns of the wheel and the bobbin was full of gold thread. She watched for a long time until she fell asleep.

When morning came, all the straw was spun into gold and the little man was gone. The King returned and was astonished to find that the poor miller's daughter really could spin straw into gold. He praised the girl handsomely, but because he was very greedy, he led her into an even larger room full of straw and a spinning wheel. He gave her the same conditions as the first night and went away again. As soon as the door had closed she began to cry again, and at once the little man was back.

'Poor Miller's Daughter, why are you crying?' he said. 'Oh, I must spin all this straw into gold before morning or I shall be put to death and I don't know how! Won't you help me again?' said cried. 'And what will you give me if I spin it for you?' he asked. 'The ring from my finger if it pleases you.' She answered and gave it to him. The little man took the ring and set to work. Just the same as the night before, she fell asleep watching him work and when she woke all the straw had been spun into gold. The king returned and was very pleased, but his greed got the better of him and he led her yet another room, much larger than the first two and told her that if she could spin all the straw into gold before morning he would marry her, but if not, she would not be put to death, but rather would be spinning gold for him as a servant for the rest of her life. She began to cry at once and again, the little man appeared before her.

'Poor Miller's Daughter, why are you crying?' he said. 'Oh, I must spin all this straw into gold before morning, and if I do, the king will marry me and I want that very much. Will you help me again?' she asked. 'And what will you give me if I spin it for you?' said the little man. 'I have nothing left to give you.' She answered, for as a poor miller's daughter she had very little to begin with. 'Very well,' said the little man. 'I will spin the straw into gold for you, but you must consent to give me your first born child when you are queen.' He said. With very little option open to her she agreed and the little man set to work again, spinning the straw into gold. Once again she fell asleep watching him work and when she woke the room was full of gold and she was alone. The King married her the very next day and she was soon pregnant with her first child. By the time the child was born she'd forgotten all about her promise to the little man and was shocked to see him again when the child was just days old. 'You promised me your first born child if I spun a room full of straw into gold for you.' He said. 'I will take the child now.' She offered him all manner of treasures instead of her baby, but the little man refused them all. When she saw that she must give up her child, the girl, who was now Queen, began to cry. The little man took pity on her and said: 'I will give you three days, and if, by the end of them, you cannot tell me my name, I will take your child.' And with that he was gone. The Queen sent out messengers to every corner of the kingdom, making lists of all the names they could find. The little man returned at the end of each of the first two days and the Queen read off the all the names on the lists but to each and every one, the little man replied: 'That is not my name.'

On the third day, the Queen was very much distressed and walked about in the woods to calm herself and think of what names she could possibly be missing. As she walked she heard a strange sort of singing and spied upon the little man dancing around a fire with other little men.

'Today I do bake and tomorrow I brew,

For on this night the Queen's child comes in;

And oh! I am glad that nobody knew

That the name I am called is Rumplestiltskin!' he sang.

The Queen crept away quietly and raced back to the castle in joy. When the little man came that night she asked a few of the other names she'd thought up, silly things like Spindleshanks, until at last she said: 'Then if none of these are your name, then it must be Rumplestiltskin.' The little man flew into a rage and screamed and cursed the Queen before he disappeared forever. They lived happily ever after, the end."

The camp was quiet for several long moments and Cloud shifted nervously in the silence. Had his story been bad? They had seemed to enjoy the changeling story, which was just a children's story, same as Rumplestiltskin.

"What happened to the little man after that Ni-san?" asked Kadaj, eyes wide and curious.

"Uh, I don't know. I've never heard anything past that. I don't think anyone has." Said Cloud, shooting his youngest brother a thoughtful look.

'Didn't you hear these stories growing up? They're really common everywhere, not just in Nebleheim.' He sent over their shared mind link. Surprisingly, it was Yazoo who answered him.

"We grew up in the labs. We never heard any kind of silly story like that when we were kids. All we heard stories about how much better Sephiroth did in whatever twisted experiment they were doing on us at the time."

Cloud tensed and said nothing, feeling guilty for bringing up such an obviously painful subject for his harshest critic. Loz put his hand on Yazoo's shoulder and gazed at him sadly.

"We didn't get any silly stories when we were little, so you have to tell us all of them Ni-san, ok?" said Loz, a desperate kind of smile on his face as he fought back tears.

"Of course." Said Cloud quietly, studiously not looking at any of them. He was shocked that they had had such a harsh childhood, and then surprised that he was shocked. It really made sense, in a sick sort of way, that of course, the remains of the Shin-Ra science department wouldn't let them grow up normally. A strange sort of anger boiled inside him the more he thought about it. He was angry that they had to live like that, and knew something of how it must have been, having spent five years under Hojo's tender mercies himself. He jerked another handful of grass out of the ground, scowling. At least he'd had some semblance of a normal childhood before it all went to hell though, he'd had bed-time stories and a mother who indulged him and all sorts of things he never even thought about because, didn't everyone have them too? Clearly not these three, four if he wanted to count Sephiroth. He was certain that Sephiroth's childhood must have been just as bad now that he thought about it.

He glanced up at them and resolved himself to fix as much of that as he could. He'd tell them all the children's stories he knew and when he had the chance he'd do all the things he could think of that his mother use to do for him. It wasn't right that they'd never heard a fairy tale before. Cloud set his jaw and nodded to himself, decision made. He'd give them as much as he could, and maybe, it would help a little.

0o0o0

End Ch.13

AN: Ok, I know I haven't updated in forever, and I'm sorry! This story is just so fickle with its inspiration. Ah well, I won't give up! Promise! I really appreciate everyone who has reviewed! It really helps with that inspiration thing, hint hint, wink wink! So, the next few chapters will be filler mostly I think, more Grimm's Fairy Tales and brotherly bonding ahead until they reach Edoras. Tally Ho!

-Laz


	14. Chapter 14

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

By: Lazeralk

Standard disclaimers apply.

Once again, ("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. 'Blah' is the Advents and Cloud sharing thoughts.

There are notes and answers to some of the very good questions and comments on the plot and various details in the story that I've gotten in the reviews so far at the bottom of the chapter, so if you were wondering why some things are the way they are, feel free to take a look. If you have any questions that weren't answered there feel free to ask, I'll do my best to answer.

0o0o0

"How much further is it Elladan?" asked Kadaj, standing up in his stirrups to give his aching backside some relief.

"Can you see that little black dot on the horizon there?" asked the elf in return, pointing. The silver haired advent put a hand to his brow to block out the glare of the sun and squinted into the distance.

"Oh yeah! I see it!" he cried excitedly. "Ni-san look! Yazoo, Loz! Look at it! We're almost there!"

"Actually, we're still two days out. You must have very good vision indeed for men to have seen the city from here." Said Elrohir, also gazing at the tiny Rohiric stronghold in the distance.

"If we ride with any kind of haste…?" suggested Cloud, trying to gauge the distance in miles.

"Well, yes we could be there late morning tomorrow if we picked up the pace a bit." replied Elrohir.

"Let's do it! How fast can these horses go?" said Loz.

"Easy Loz, you have to treat them more like chocobos than bikes. I doubt they can manage more than twenty or thirty miles an hour and not for very long either." Said Cloud, patting his horse's neck as the animal tossed its head in an aggravated manner, almost as if it understood and took offence.

"What are chocobos?" asked Elladan.

"Eh, they're really big birds. I suppose we use them for much the same things as people use horses here. I have a few chocobos back home, on the ranch. Racing birds mostly, but they can be ridden too." Said Cloud.

"_You have chocobos_?" demanded Kadaj, eyes wide.

"Yes." Replied Cloud, a little wary at the young one's tone.

"Can we see them when we get home? Please?"

"Yeah can we Ni-san? Please?" begged Loz. Yazoo let out a long suffering sigh, as if he couldn't believe how stupid his brothers were being.

"Uh, sure. I don't see why not." Said Cloud, a small smile tugging at his lips. They really were kind of cute, he thought. A sudden wave of hostility crashed into him from Yazoo and his smile got just a little bigger in response.

"Let's ride fast Ni-san! Can we Elrohir?" said Kadaj.

"Why is it Elrohir you ask and not me?" griped Elladan. "I am the eldest; it should be my decision should it not?"

"Let us go a little faster." Said Elrohir, completely ignoring his twin's grumbled complaints. He spoke a few quiet words to his horse and the animal immediately broke into a run, the other horses following without any prompting from their riders.

0o0o0

They reached Edoras by mid-morning, a little earlier than they expected. People were already busily going about their day, horses and children and dogs scampering to and fro alongside the men and women. The people stopped and stared at the newcomers, and Cloud couldn't tell if they were more interested in the identical elves or his triplet brothers. He returned their looks stoically, a slight frown on his face as the itch began to build between his shoulder blades.

He hated being stared at.

Kadaj pulled his horse almost violently to the side and urged the animal to flank his blonde brother. Loz took the other side and Yazoo took the rear, the three of them doing their best to surround Cloud. Cloud flicked his eyes at Kadaj and Loz, thanking them without words for trying to shield him.

The giant double doors of the large building at the top of the hill slammed open, garnering every ones attention. A tall blonde haired elf emerged from within, eagerly jumping down the platforms of steps to reach the ground.

("Elladan! Elrohir! Well met! It is good to see you again!") called the new elf, walking quickly to close the distance between them. Several others came out of the same building and hurried to join them.

"Elladan! Elrohir!" roared a man's voice. The twins quickly dismounted, clasping arms with the blonde elf and then rushing to embrace the man who'd called their names so loudly. They all spoke in quick, delighted elvish, holding onto each other fondly. Cloud silently dismounted, his silver-haired brothers quietly following suit. They stood beside their horses, uncomfortable, before the Advents once again moved to surround their blonde brother. Cloud scanned the crowd, noting that most of the people were split between staring at the commotion the twins were making and glancing curiously at him and his brothers. He shrugged his shoulders, settling First Tsurugi more comfortably along his back.

"Come my friends! Let us go inside, we have found the ones we were looking for at last." Said Elrohir, motioning to Cloud and his brothers.

As one, the four outlanders moved to follow. Kadaj stalked a little ways ahead, taking point, while Loz and Yazoo ran side and rear guard. Their pacing steps shifting them from side to side and around Cloud, who walked with forced nonchalance. The Advents became more and more tense with each step in response to Cloud's own growing discomfort. Elrohir frowned quickly at them before ushering them inside and shutting the doors behind them. Cloud relaxed marginally when the curious stares were cut off from the outside. A whole new group of people were gathered along large tables, dishes and weapons scattered across the tops. A small, stout man covered in red hair approached them boldly.

"Well, well, what have ye brought us Elf Lord?" he asked, addressing one of the twins, but staring intently at Cloud, before moving to look at each of his brothers in turn.

'I see what you mean about the staring…' Loz muttered across their shared mind-link unhappily.

"Warriors, master Dwarf. Great warriors from a distant land come to aid us in our quest against the Darkness. The one in the center is Cloud, the eldest of these fine brothers four. The tallest is called Loz, the one with the long hair is called Yazoo, and the smallest Kadaj." Explained Elrohir, though Cloud was sure that the dwarf had no idea which twin was which from the expression on his face.

"I see, Master…ah."

"Elrohir." Provided the elf good-naturedly.

"Master Elrohir, of course. Warriors you say, well, we could always use some of those." The dwarf grunted as he adjusted the large wide belt around his middle.

"Well met young ones. I am Gimli, son of Gloin, at your service." Said the dwarf, giving them a nod.

Just as Cloud was about to respond, the pair that had greeted the twins so fondly before made their way over. The tall lanky man smiled at them warmly.

"Greeting friends, my brothers have told me much of you. You must be great indeed to have earned such high esteem from them in so short a time. Ah, forgive me. I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn. Well met."

"Now don't be modest Aragorn, what with the elf all but shouting who you are yeatereve." Prodded Gimli, giving the man a look. Aragorn raised an eyebrow in response.

"They have traveled in the company of my brothers, surely they know all the things they should, and some that they shouldn't if I know these two well enough." Protested the man.

"Actually, we haven't told them anything." Said Elladan, carefully watching the four brothers as they stood silently, their eyes flicking to whomever was speaking.

"Well, I must insist that you finish your introduction my friend, so that I may make mine." Said the blonde elf that had moved to join them also.

"Of course, forgive me Legolas. I am also the heir of Isildur, and thus heir to the thrones of Gondor and Anor." Said Aragorn, eyes carefully watching the four brothers for their reaction.

'A prince huh? Think we can one up these guys?' Kadaj whispered with devious excitement in their heads.

'Don't get carried away Kadaj, they _are_ our allies.' Cautioned Cloud, struggling to keep a blank face. It seemed that the three Advents had no trouble keeping their faces blank while they spoke mind-to-mind, but Cloud still found it difficult. Practice, he was sure, would fix that.

"I am Legolas, son of Thranduil. My father is king of Mirkwood to the north. Well met." Said the blonde elf with a polite smile.

'Two princes. Let's do this.' Hissed Kadaj, giving them all a rapid fire series of images and words, showing them how he wanted to present them.

'Fine. But remember what I said about getting carried away.' Grumbled Cloud, a tight frown marring his features. He shifted his shoulders nervously to relieve the itch, feeling First Tsurugi moving along his back.

"Well met." Said Cloud, before he could forget to say it.

"I am Cloud Strife, Commander of AVALANCHE, JENOVA project weapon designation C, SOLDIER Sword Master Division, First Class."

"I am Kadaj, JENOVA project weapon designation K, SOLDIER Sword Master Division, First Class."

"I am Yazoo, JENOVA project weapon designation Y, SOLDIER Sharpshooter Division, First Class."

"I am Loz, JENOVA project weapon designation L, SOLDIER Heavy Infantry Division, First Class."

"Well met." The three Advents intoned with perfect unison as the four of them gave synchronized Wutainese style bows.

"Strange titles you give, and yet, I sense a great deal of weight behind them. Perhaps you will give us more insight at a later date. For now, we have a great deal of work to do." Said Aragorn.

"Oh?" questioned Elladan.

"Open war is upon us. All of Edoras is moving to Helm's Deep with as much haste as can be had. Come brothers, there is much to be done." Explained Aragorn, turning quickly and striding towards an older man who was in deep conversation with a small group on the other side of the hall.

'Guess we're following?' Said Loz, glancing at Cloud. The blonde nodded and stated moving, the three Advents keeping their guard around Cloud.

'Did you have to mention Jenova?' grumbled Cloud to Kadaj as they walked.

'I could have said: "Remnant of Sephiroth".' Countered Kadaj as neutrally as he could.

"If I never have to hear that man's name ever again, I can die happy." Groused Cloud, his expression stormy.

"Pardon?" said Gimli sharply. Cloud glanced at him, and then realized that the dwarf assumed he was speaking about Aragorn.

"My brothers and I can share thoughts. I was answering Kadaj." Said Cloud, before firmly turning his attention towards Aragorn and the older man he was now speaking urgently with. He saw that Gimli kept a suspicious eye on him and sighed mentally, aggravated by the misunderstanding and the trouble it was sure to cause later but unwilling to divulge that particular piece of his past to a complete stranger. Again. It was bad enough that the twins knew.

'Should we offer to help?' asked Loz shyly.

'Probably, but I don't know how much good it will do in the long run. SOLDIER was very effective because the people in charge knew exactly what a SOLDIER was capable of and distributed workloads accordingly. I have the feeling that these guys are going to assume we're no stronger than the average man, no matter what the twins tell them. Seeing is believing and all that.' Said Cloud.

'Hmm.' Agreed Yazoo, chipping in after days of silence in Clouds' mind. Cloud was fairly certain that Yazoo was purposely blocking him from hearing his thoughts.

'Well, we could still offer.' Said Loz, as close to insistent as he got with them. Cloud agreed, and then realized that they were waiting for him to make the announcement. Cloud frowned, that would put him back at the center of attention.

'Damn it.' He said to no one in particular, but Yazoo snickered quietly in response.

"Excuse me." He said and waited for them to look at him.

"Who is this Aragorn?" demanded the older man.

"Cloud Strife, ah, forgive me, your titles are unfamiliar." Said Aragorn, looking truly apologetic.

"Just Cloud is fine. My brothers and I would like to offer any help that we can. We are each able to do the work of many men by ourselves." Said Cloud, his face stoic.

"A proud boast that is, boy! I've half a mind to make you live it." Challenged the older man gruffly.

Aragorn, noticing the stormy look on the blonde's features, quickly stepped in.

"Cloud, I don't believe I have introduced you. This is Théoden, King of Rohan." He said, giving a significant look to the four brothers.

"Well met." Said Cloud, his expression softening a little, but his eyes kept their fierceness.

"However, what I said isn't any sort of boast. We're First Class SOLDIERS. We have more than four mass Mako treatments each. We really are stronger, faster and more durable than any of the fighters you have here. It isn't boasting. I'm trying to make you understand what we're capable of so that everything gets moved efficiently. If we're going against a huge army, we're going to need a lot of supplies. Especially if we're defending against siege and trying to protect and provide for civilians at the same time."

"Think you know what is to be done then do you?" growled the king, his face drawn tight with anger.

'Still want to help Loz?' asked Yazoo snidely, shifting his stance defensively. Kadaj openly snarled at the king. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped when Cloud raised his fist in a commander's gesture to hold back.

'How dare he speak to you like that!' raged Kadaj in their minds, dark shadows swirling around his feet ominously.

'Yazoo.' Whined Loz, shooting a pleading look at his closest brother. Cloud however, agreed.

"You may, of course, refuse." He said, eyes hard as he regarded the king coldly.

"If I may King Théoden, you would be wise to accept. I have seen these four in battle and I can attest to their merit and their great strength. 'Tis not an offer made in jest nor one ill meant." Said Elrohir seriously. King Théoden seemed to regard the elf for a long time before he nodded and then drew a hand across his temple.

"Forgive my harsh words, friends. My kingdom is being invaded, and I have little left with which to defend it. I welcome any aid you can give. Weapons and armor will be the heaviest things, and if you four can take some, it will leave more room in the carts for food and what little medicines we have left." King Théoden said wearily.

Cloud gave a sharp nod and waited.

"Hama!" called the King, and a guard detached himself from the wall and trotted over, plate armor and weapons clicking and clanging with every step.

"Take these men to the armory. They will be in charge of moving our weapons and armor stores to Helm's Deep. Give them whatever aid they require from you." Ordered King Théoden. He waited until Hama nodded and then went back to his discussion with Aragorn.

"This way my lords." Said Hama and set off at a brisk pace deeper into the hall. Cloud gave a nod to Elrohir and then picked up his pace, determined to get started right away and show these people what SOLDIERS were capable of. He'd make them respect Zack's legacy by acknowledging it.

End Ch. 14

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. ^_^

A few quick things:

1. To the person who asked about Ultima Weapon vs. First Tsurugi: So I just got a review from someone who probably knows way more than me about FF7 and pointed out that I got the sword names mixed up. Oops. Well. Uh. I'm too lazy to go back and change it in every chapter, so just pretend that First Tsurugi is called Ultima Weapon…..ok? (So I just went back and changed it all, cuz I re-read it and it bugged me…)

2. There will be no pairings in this story that I foresee in the limited amount of future that I have access to. That could change, but right now I'm not planning for it. As I've said before, inspiration for this story comes and goes in short bursts.

3. To the person who said Cloud's stories sound like he's just reading them, without going off on tangents like normal people do: Cloud isn't normal. He's uncomfortable enough as it is speaking for more than a few sentences at a time to these guys so he does his best to recite the stories from his memory as quickly and concisely as he can without completely destroying the story in the process. He feels bad about how deprived the Advent's were growing up in the labs, but he has his own issues to work with too.

4. To the person who asked about Fenrir myths: This is an intensely personal thing for Cloud. Even if the elves asked, he wouldn't tell them. His choice in the Fenrir symbol is a sort of unspoken thing that people who know the myths accept and don't comment on. For the people who don't know, Cloud isn't going to enlighten them any time soon. That would require talking about Sephiroth and how he feels about that whole issue and Cloud would really rather not.

5. To the person who asked about the Advents growing up in the labs not being cannon: Yes I know they just sort of appear fully grown from the lifestream, but I'm taking some creative license with that point. It's easier for me to give them more fully fleshed out characters if I have some back story to work with. There isn't a lot of information on why the Advents have the personalities they do. For example, cannon never explains why Loz is such a cry baby. I need more to work with than what the official story line gives me to come up with an explanation.


	15. Chapter 15

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

By: Lazeralk

Standard disclaimers apply.

Once again, ("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. 'Blah' is the Advents and Cloud sharing thoughts.

A little note at the bottom for a reviewer.

0o0o0

"What in Shiva's name is your problem?" demanded Yazoo angrily as he threw the piece of wood in his hands down on the ground. The timber fractured and broke into hundreds of pieces on impact, but the silver haired youth ignored it.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Answered Cloud.

"Why the fuck are you driving us like animals? That crazy old man with the attitude problem assigned us grunt work and you're all fucking gung-ho about it. We're just moving weapons. Transport work. Regulars could do this shit. We're SOLDIERS." Said Yazoo, his voice dripping with condensation and indignation.

"They don't have any idea what SOLDIERS can do Yazoo." Began Cloud, only to be cut off.

"So what? This about proving we can do this? That we're better than them?" yelled Yazoo, his face a mask of fury.

"No! This is about making them understand, to not underestimate us." Cloud yelled back, his own face drawn in tight lines.

"It about respect Aniki. They don't respect us. We're outsiders, unknowns. The king dismissed us as hotheaded kids with chips on our shoulders. That's why he gave us this job, because he didn't take us seriously at all, but he didn't want to risk offending Elrohir." Said Kadaj from the sidelines, were he stood, arms crossed over his chest as he watched his two most volatile brothers fight. Loz also watched, his face panicked as he fidgeted uselessly.

"Respect?" sneered Yazoo, his attention on Kadaj.

"Yes Yazoo. Respect. This is about making them respect us, respect Zack, respect SOLDIER." Said Cloud firmly, sending a quick look to Kadaj that said without words that he was pleased his youngest brother understood and was willing to back him up. Yazoo caught it and was all the angrier for it.

"Who the fuck is Zack?" demanded Yazoo, highly agitated.

"I don't want to talk about it." Said Cloud, his face at once losing all expression. He turned around and reached for a new piece of wood.

"You said Sephiroth killed him at Nibelheim. Was he your friend?" asked Kadaj.

"I don't want to talk about it." Repeated Cloud, his back still turned to his brothers, his tone flat.

"You're-!" began Yazoo.

"Enough! We all know why we're doing this now, and why Ni-san wants it be as efficient and impressive as possible. Like you said Yazoo, this is grunt work, so it should be nothing for four SOLDIERS. Just shut up and do it." Commanded Kadaj, already moving to gather more wood.

The four of them were building a new wagon to hold all the weapons and armor that they were moving. The plan was to have just the one wagon for everything, but the wagon had to be able to hold the weight of all the cargo and move at a fairly high speed without breaking. The issue was structural integrity. Wood wasn't going to be strong enough to do all that, the weight of the weapons was too great, but they didn't have enough wood to make four separate wagons. They had decided to pull the wagon themselves, leaving the horses to carry people or be used for other things. The four of them were more than strong enough to handle the weight, but they couldn't carry the bulk of the weapons and armor without a wagon.

"I think we need to cut new wheels. The ones that Hama gave us are too thin." Said Loz quietly from his crouched position by the rough body of their partially constructed wagon.

"Yeah." Agreed Cloud, raking a hand through his bangs.

"Ok, Kadaj, cut us some new wheels. Yazoo and Loz keep working on the siding. I think if we reinforce the axles with some of the swords that aren't useable anymore, we can use the extra wood that would have gone there to reinforce the bed."

"Yeah, we could do that." Said Loz.

"We need chain." Grumbled Yazoo to himself as he worked, ignoring Cloud who was going through the pile of archaic swords on the floor.

"I'll ask Hama on the way out." Said Kadaj as he walked towards the door, grimly holding Souba in his hands. Cutting wheels with his precious sword was just so wrong, but she was the only blade that was both thin enough and sharp enough to do the job. The elven long knives were lovely, but folded steel wasn't stronger than materia enhanced folded titanium.

Hama was curious about the need for chain; but dutifully retrieved several bundles from the dungeons. Kadaj slung them around his shoulder and then told Hama he was going up into the mountains to get more wood. The Rohiric soldier eyed him strangely and informed him that the trek into the mountains and back would take him several days and that all of Edoras would be at Helm's Deep before he returned. Kadaj just smiled at him and took off running, black shadows swirling around his feet.

0o0o0

"Cloud." Said Elrohir softly as he entered the barn where his friends were reported to have locked themselves away. A monstrous wagon without wheels sat on the floor, three of the four brothers still adding pieces here and there. Cloud glanced up at the elf and then returned to his work.

"Cloud, you must come quickly. Kadaj is causing a panic." Said the elf sternly, moving more fully into the room.

The blonde stood in alarm, focusing his attention inward and seeking Kadaj's mind with his own. What he found made him both want to laugh at and strangle his youngest brother. Kadaj had made record time into the mountains and back, three and half hours in total and had brought back several trees worth of extra wood.

It was how he'd accomplished this that was making people panic as he came back into Edoras. The six huge trees he'd returned with were strung together with the heavy chains from the dungeons, and being pulled by a pack of shadowy beasts, each five times the size of any horse. Kadaj rode at the head of the pack on the shoulders of the biggest Lurker, who was pulling a truly massive tree trunk, cut short to only about ten feet in length. The look on his youngest brother's face was positively smug.

"Cloud?" demanded Elrohir, now standing directly in front of him, a frown on his absurdly beautiful face.

"Let's go." Said the blonde as he turned and walked out of the barn and into the streets on the outskirts of Edoras. Loz and Yazoo followed, both smirking as they too watched the scene through their brother's eyes.

"Ni-san!" called Kadaj from the back of his Lurker as they made their way back into the city. The smallest of the Advents then leapt from the shoulders of the great beast to approach the trio walking towards him. People pointed and whispered, gawked and balked at the beasts. Women ushered their children into houses and slammed doors shut.

"What is the meaning of this?" demanded a voice. Cloud turned to find a small grouping of Rohiric soldiers storming towards them, the twins, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli trailing after them. Another group of soldiers were escorting King Théoden down the path that lead from the Meduseld to the commotion they were causing.

'You want that respect Ni-san? Perfect opportunity right here.' Whispered Kadaj in Cloud's mind as the youngest of the Advents eyed the King's approaching form.

"Answer me boy! What devilry do you bring into our lands?" barked the soldier. The four brothers completely ignored him, all of them watching the King come closer. Aragorn noticed their attention and frowned, he moved to step forward, but was halted by a hand from Gimli on his arm.

"Ne, Ni-san. Think you can cut this one into four even pieces?" said Kadaj as he absently waved his hand in the direction of the largest log.

"The wheels?" asked Cloud, turning and walking over to it. He eyed it critically for a moment before nodding to himself. The sound of approaching feet had stopped, the King of Rohan was watching.

"Loz, I need you to throw this log into the air as high as you can. Yazoo and 'Daj will catch the pieces." Said Cloud as he pulled First Tsurugi from his back and carefully broke it into two swords about equal in size.

"Ok." Said Loz casually as he approached the log and easily tipped it so that it rested on its severed base rather than its side.

"What's going on here?" asked Théoden.

"We need to cut new wheels. The ones you gave us aren't wide enough to support the weight of the wagon and the cargo." Said Yazoo snidely, as he walked past the king to position himself opposite of Kadaj, with Loz and Cloud between them.

"Just say when Ni-san." Said Loz as he carefully tipped the log just enough to get one hand underneath it. Cloud twirled his swords twice before he nodded, settling his shoulders.

"Go."

Loz heaved with all his strength and flung the log high into the air. Cloud leapt after it, his two swords a blur as he cut into the wood mid-air. Four huge disks fell towards the ground but were expertly caught by Yazoo and Kadaj, a disk in each hand. Cloud flipped once to help him control his decent and landed neatly next to Loz, swords already assembled back into one giant blade.

"Ai Elbereth." Whispered Legolas. The others stared at them, mouths agape and eyes full of shocked disbelief. Cloud regarded them all calmly as he turned to address Kadaj, First Tsurugi still grasped in his hand.

"Ok, 'Daj, start cutting the wheels. Loz, Yazoo, let's get these other trees cut into planks." Said Cloud. Yazoo smirked at Théoden as he placed the two disks he was holding at Kadaj's feet, then turned to help his other brothers get the chains off the trees. Loz lifted one of the trunks and threw it, doing his best to keep it as close to a ninety degree angle as possible. Cloud leapt again, cutting the tree bottom to top, maintaining as straight a cut as he could.

Théoden watched grimly, a grudging look on his face before he turned and walked away, his contingent of soldiers scrambling to catch up. The twins and the remains of the Fellowship stayed behind, and watched the Advents make quick work of the logs. It was only after the last of the wood had been moved into the barn that the five witnesses returned to the Meduseld, their minds and hearts full of conflicting thoughts and feelings.

0o0o0

And that's all for chapter 15. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, it gives me motivation to keep writing. I only had one review with a question in it, so I'll answer that below.

1. To the person (in chapter 4) who asked about Zack dying early and Cloud not being experimented on for five years: Cloud lied. He'd just met Elrond for the first time, no way in hell he's going to talk about that with someone he just met. It will become an issue later, cuz the Advents don't know about it either, but they'll find out.


	16. Chapter 16

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

By: Lazeralk

Standard disclaimers apply.

Once again, ("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. 'Blah' is the Advents and Cloud sharing thoughts.

Another few questions answered at the bottom. I really appreciate these questions, because they make me look back at things and try to see the reasons why I did them the way I did. So please, keep 'em commin'.

0o0o0

"They're dangerous laddie, mark my words." Said Gimli as he set his tankard down on the table. The five of the them were gathered near the hearth in the Meduseld, holding quiet conference amongst themselves. The twins stood to one side of the table; the elf and the ranger were arranged around Gimli's seated form on the other side.

"They are our allies." Said Elrohir quietly, his tone reasonable.

"That blonde one made threats against Aragorn. I heard him. Cold as ice that one is. And the boy, did you see those monsters he came back with? In league with the enemy I tell you!"

"No Master Dwarf. They were entrusted to me by the Valar themselves. They cannot be our enemies. They simply cannot." Argued Elrohir, regarding the dwarf with subtle hostility.

"What treats do you speak of Gimli?" asked Aragorn from his place against the wall, a long pipe between his teeth.

"Said if he never heard your name again he could die happy. That sound like something an ally would say? I saw the look on his face too, when Aragorn gave his titles. He wasn't happy to meet you, my boy. The elf either if I remember right. Scowled like he'd eaten something sour when the elf gave his name, he did."

"Then we will just have to be careful, my friend. I see no other course of action." Said Legolas.

"They are not enemies." Said Elladan, moving to stand beside his twin.

"And they will fight beside us against the armies of Sauron. I will be comforted to know those mighty blades will be on our side. If they are in league with the enemy, I fear we have little hope of defending against them. Surly we must admit to that, having seen firsthand the things they can do." Said Aragorn.

"Aye. Strong and fast they are. As for them being on our side, well. Maybe they are, but maybe they aren't. Beware of treachery I say." Grumbled the dwarf crossly as he reached for his ale.

"We shall, my friend, as always. We haven't much time now, people have already begun the journey to Helm's Deep. We must join them, or be left behind."

0o0o0

There was a lot staring and whispers as the column of people and supplies made their way slowly towards Helm's Deep. Cloud and the Advents were moving their giant, reinforced cart by hand with relative ease. The path was rocky and uneven, wider in some places and narrow in others. Because the cart was so large and so well built, many other things besides weapons had been added to the cargo. Huge piles of linen sheets, ready to be torn into strips for bandages and baskets of food and herbs pitched and rocked dangerously as the monstrous cart moved along the path. Loz's shoulders heaved as he pulled on the double length of chain wrapped around the whole of the wagon, moving it forward. Yazoo and Kadaj pulled from the sides, keeping it on the path, and Cloud pushed from behind.

A startled shout from the front of the column made everyone's heads snap up in alarm. The SOLDIERS abandoned their posts around the cart and drew weapons, fanning out to protect the vulnerable civilians.

"Wargs! Riders to the front!" came the king's command and men on horses charged past them.

"'Daj!" yelled Cloud as he and his brothers ran towards the front where the fight was taking place. Kadaj raised a hand while he was running and a pack of Lurkers leapt from the shadows to run beside them. The wargs were larger than the horses, canine and furred with short shouts full of sharp teeth dripping with saliva and blood. Several horsemen were already down when the four SOLDIERS reached the front of the column. A warg charged at Yazoo only to be sliced neatly in half by his whirling long knives. A Lurker jumped over his head to catch a warg in the middle, the dark creature easily twice the size of the warg. The Lurker's massive jaws cut the smaller animal in half. Yazoo raised a long knife to his brow in a short salute to the Lurker before turning to look for his next victim.

Cloud frowned as he sliced into orcs and wargs alike, unsatisfied with the pace of the battle. The plains of Rohan were wide, affording the enemy quite of lot of ground to spread out over. Cloud was forced to run from opponent to opponent in order to engage them, giving the enemy ample time to pick off slower moving targets. Yazoo, Loz and Kadaj were facing similar problems, though Kadaj easily swung himself up onto the back of any passing Lurker to get around the field. The fighting was over in minutes, and Cloud was pleased to find that the column of civilians had been left almost completely un-harassed.

"Aragorn!" shouted Gimli from the other side of the field, looking frantically around. Cloud made his way steadily over to where the dwarf and was searching. Legolas also joined the search, calling out to his friend. A harsh laugh caught their notice and the three of them found a mortally wounded orc near the steep edge of a cliff.

"What do you know!" demanded Gimli furiously.

"He'd dead." Proclaimed the orc, his laugh causing him to cough up blood.

"You lie!" accused the dwarf.

"Took a little tumble off the cliff he did." Continued the orc, opening his clenched fingers to reveal a shining jewel. Gimli grabbed harshly for gem and shook the dying creature; he opened his mouth to question him further, but the orc's labored breathing suddenly stopped.

"I'll find him." Said Cloud as he turned back towards where his brothers watched across the plain.

'I'm going to find Aragorn, can you three handle the cart while I'm gone?' he asked over their mind link. Kadaj nodded back at him and dismissed the Lurkers still milling around the battle field.

'Aragorn?' questioned Loz.

'He fell off the cliff, one of the uglies said he was dead.'

'What good will it do to find him then?' asked Yazoo.

'I have a Phoenix Down.' Answered Cloud, watching as Yazoo made a sort of shrugging, sideways bow with his head and shoulders, indicating without words that he understood and accepted.

"And just how will you do that? And if he'd dead…" the dwarf had begun harshly, but his voice trailed off quietly as he spoke his fears. Cloud turned to regard him and blinked, still adjusting to the idea of having two separate conversations at once.

"I have a Phoenix Down." He repeated and then leaned over the edge of the cliff to gauge the distance.

"A what?" asked Legolas as he stared at the other blonde quizzically. Cloud glanced at him briefly before he threw himself over the edge of the cliff and into the raging river below.

"Fool boy!" shouted Gimli as he reached futilely after Cloud's falling form.

"What madness in the heads of men! Threw himself to his death he did! And for what?" the dwarf demanded, turning to look at Legolas. The elf only shook his head, distress written clearly across his face.

"I know not, my friend. We shall hope for the best, but I truly do not welcome telling the twins of what has happened here."

"Ai." Agreed Gimli as he rose to his feet, the Evenstar pendant still grasped in his hand.

"I do not envy you the task, and I fear for Aragorn if he did survive. Those two will be alone now…" said the dwarf suspiciously, handing over the star jewel to his elven companion.

"We've no proof of anything Gimli. We can do naught but cling to hope. I hear your doubt of Cloud's character, and I for one would like better to believe they will both return to us safely. Can you not lay your rancor to rest a while? Let me cling to hope without your troubles taking up company with my own." Said Legolas, a reprimand in his tone and a frown on his face.

"Aragorn?" asked a voice behind them and the pair turned to find King Théoden addressing them.

"He fell off the cliff, Cloud has gone to find him. Said something about _feathers_." Answered the dwarf gruffly, as he stormed past the king. "Fat lot of good _that_ will do." He continued to himself as he moved away.

"We must keep moving, leave the dead." Ordered the king as he too gazed at the cliff edge where Legolas stood, unwilling to abandon the site. The king ignored the look of venomous hate the elf cast his way at the order to abandon his friends.

0o0o0

Elladan moved away from his very troubling conversation with Legolas and Gimli, an anguished frown on his handsome face as he stalked up the steps of the Hornburg. The three silver haired SOLDIERS were sitting silently at the top, gazing out at the vast expanse of plains that marched up to the mountain and the fortress half-buried in it. Yazoo cocked his head to the side and Kadaj gave a small half shrug, and Elladan knew they were speaking through their thoughts, as he and his own twin sometimes did.

"They said that he fell, and that Cloud went to find him." He said quietly, but with heat, carefully not looking at any of them. Instead he gazed out across the plains, his sharp elven eyes picking out the subtle movements of distant animals and the indistinct forms of far off houses.

"Ah. Ni-san went to find him, and bring him back. He's searching the banks now, no luck yet." Answered Kadaj, studying the elf intently.

"They say the orc claimed him dead." Said Elladan, feeling the younger man's eyes on him but refusing to meet them. He held himself stiff and silent, as if by exerting exact control over his body he could somehow control everything else. If he just held onto his control, he could make it so that Estel would live.

"Ah." Said Kadaj, turning to look out at the plains. The four of them stood in silence for a long time, the wind throwing their hair into their faces, the muffled blustering of the people below drifting up to them.

"What is a phoenix down?" the elf asked at length, almost as if he were afraid of the answer.

"It brings the dead back to life." Said Loz helpfully from where he sat on the edge of the platform that held a massive metal horn, legs crossed and chin balanced on one open palm.

"If the death is recent enough." Added Yazoo, arms crossed over his chest, eyes scanning the vast openness of the grassy plains. He shifted a little, drawing one knee up to his chest as he sat more comfortably against the wall, his other leg dangling over the edge of the spiraling stairs.

"Does that really work?" demanded Elladan, now turning to pin Yazoo with a look that was all carefully controlled despair and desperation.

"Yeah. It works. Why wouldn't it?" asked Yazoo, a little defensive to cover his confusion. Elladan quickly turned away, hunching his shoulders to keep them from shaking.

"He is my brother. I love him dearly. I could not bear to lose him like this." The elf bit out, his voice tight with emotion.

"You won't." said Kadaj, so full of confidence and ease that Elladan turned to look at him sharply, the stress of his worry and fear falling away from him in the moment of confusion. He studied the smaller male, who stood reclining against the wall of the Hornburg, his stance relaxed. The wind whipped his shoulder length hair about his face and gently moved the few loose bits of black leather that hung off his slender frame. Glowing, cat green eyes met his steadily and a smile graced his features. Elladan was shocked by that smile; it was a smile he'd only seen on the faces of children, so full of absolute certainty in the world that peaceful confidence was all they knew.

"He's alive. Somehow managed to find a horse and was already on his way back when Cloud ran across him. They'll be here soon enough." Said Yazoo, carefully not looking at the elf, but instead staring at Kadaj.

The middle child knew how Elladan felt, or at least, he thought he did. If he somehow lost Kadaj, if for some reason he could not hear or feel him anymore, the worry and fear would eat him alive. There had only been the one time that he and Loz could not hear or feel their younger brother, and it had terrified them both. They could see it sometimes, in flashes of Cloud's memories when he wasn't paying attention, their precious baby brother vanishing behind the curtain of black feathers. They could see him being devoured, swallowed and consumed, so very, very quickly. By _Him_. Mother's favorite. The special one they'd been cast aside for. The one Mother has abandoned them for. _Sephiroth_.

Elladan had noticeably relaxed, his shoulders coming down to their proper resting place. He turned a blindingly beautiful smile on the fiercely scowling middle child and placed his fist over his heart.

"Thank you." He said and bowed regally, before he turned and rushed down the stairs.

0o0o0

End chapter 16

To the person who asked about why/how Cloud knows how to build a wagon: Cloud built Fenrir. A wagon is several hundred times less complicated than a motorcycle. Not even counting the fact that Fenrir is no ordinary bike. She's a beautiful, fully customized piece of sex of two wheels. Plus he has the wagons in Rohan to base his design off of.

To the person who asked about the boy's emotional maturity and Cloud being childish: Yes, it is a little childish to show off like that, but it did serve a purpose. Also, please remember that Cloud has a big chunk of Zack still lodged in his head, and that kind of thing is right up Zack's alley.


	17. Chapter 17

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

By: Lazeralk

Standard disclaimers apply.

Once again, ("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. 'Blah' is the Advents and Cloud sharing thoughts.

0o0o0

Cloud pushed on the double doors leading into the heart of the Hornburg, Aragorn on his heels as they both walked briskly into the room. The King of Rohan was holding council with the remains of the Fellowship, the twins, the Advents and several important looking Rohiric soldiers.

"We have a slight problem." Said Cloud. The three silver haired SOLDIERS raised their eyes to meet his but said nothing, seeking their answers mentally instead.

'What kind of problem?' came Kadaj's voice in his mind.

"An army marches towards us, not to Edoras, but here, to Helm's Deep." Said Aragorn to King Théoden, exhaustion and stress weighing down his shoulders.

"My Cure failed." Said Cloud, arms crossed over his chest. His three brothers nodded and looked troubled, their thought like quicksilver as they debated back and forth between themselves as to the cause of such a thing.

'Is your Restore broken?' asked Loz.

"What?" asked Legolas, clearly not understanding how the two were related.

"No." answered Cloud aloud, causing several of the burly and fully armed Rohiric soldiers to eye him strangely.

"How many?" barked Théoden, scowling at him but otherwise ignoring the blonde outlander.

"Ten thousand, at least." Answered Aragorn, eyes flicking between the King and what was now clearly a separate conversation about something he didn't quite comprehend. Cloud nodded to Kadaj, though the youngest hadn't actually said anything, and Aragorn, who was standing close to the blonde's side yelped and dodged out of the way as a glowing bolt of blue light shot out of Kadaj's hand and flew towards Cloud. The blond suddenly had a sword between himself and the bolt, which crashed into the metal and dissipated with a slight fizz.

"Well. That's not good." Loz casually observed, moving to examine the pristine surface of Cloud's massive sword. "Not even a scorch mark."

"No, it is not good at all. Aerith! What's going on with our materia?" asked Cloud in a slightly raised voice. The scent of flowers suddenly flooded the room causing several men and elves to look about in a slightly bewildered fashion.

"What _is_ materia?" asked a sweetly feminine and entirely disembodied voice. Elrohir stood up a little straighter, but his was the calmest reaction of all them save the Advents and Cloud himself. The others drew weapons and looked about wildly. Gimli shouted for the newcomer to show themselves as he hefted his great ax. The silver haired SOLDIERS and Cloud calmly ignored them, though Cloud flicked his eyes at Elrohir in quick thanks when the elf settled the others down and began to explain quietly off to the side.

"Materia is…" began Cloud.

"Lifestream." Finished Kadaj grimly, understanding dawning on him.

"There is no Lifestream here." Said Yazoo, also understanding the significance of the connection.

"Exactly." Said Aerith softly. "Materia is crystallized Lifestream, a physical manifestation of the cycle of life and death. Materia pulls upon the power of the Lifestream around it, but there is no Lifestream here. No power to pull upon. All your materia has is the tiny bit of pure Lifestream it is made of." Explained the Cetra.

"All of our materia is pretty much useless now isn't it?" said Loz, then he moved over towards one of the long tables at the center of the room and began to pull the slightly glowing orbs out of his skin. Yazoo sighed but joined him, also pulling the materia out of the slots in his guns.

"They are a bit more faint aren't they?" said Kadaj to Cloud, adding his own materia to the pile. Cloud nodded, having noticed before that the glow from within the materia did seem to be dimmer than before. He grimaced as he too, parted with his materia. He didn't actually need it per say, but he was so use to battling with it that he knew he's struggle a little to not reach for it reflexively in a combat situation. He rolled his fully mastered Restore in his palm before setting it down with no small amount of disappointment. He'd been counting on that to keep the number of casualties to a minimum in the upcoming battle. He'd seen the oncoming army as he and Aragorn had passed it on their way back to Helm's Deep and he knew that even adding his brothers' and his own strength to the effort, there would be many deaths. He closed his eyes against the familiar pain of helplessness; there had been so many children and old men in the long trail of civilians that they'd escorted from Edoras. He knew many of those children and old men would be asked to fight, and he knew there was only so much he could do to keep them alive.

"Now what?" asked Loz, eyes dancing over the bright collection of multi-colored orbs.

"What are these things?" demanded Théoden as he strode up to the four outlanders. Cloud gazed at him impassively, but didn't answer him. Elrohir stepped between them, with a disapproving look for Cloud. The elf had done what he could to impress upon his charges that there was a certain amount of respect to be given to the King of Rohan, but it hadn't helped much. Cloud was uncomfortable in any sort of social situation and his three brothers seemed to have inherited Sephiroth's tiger like confidence. Yazoo had glared at the elf during one such reprimanding and had coldly said: "We bow to no one."

"These are things that allow them to mimic a wizard's powers." The elf explained to the king in a sort of placating tone, knowing that the SOLDIERS wouldn't give the king they had no respect for an explanation.

"Aerith, can you send these back to Seventh Heaven? We can't use them, but maybe the others can." Said Cloud, watching Elrohir's expression of mild disappointment from behind his usual stoic mask. He genuinely liked the elf, but some of his rules made no sense to Cloud.

"Certainly Cloud. I also have a few messages to pass along from the others." Replied Aerith, the soft scent of her flowers growing stronger with her amusement. The pile of Materia glowed brightly, looking for a moment as they should have, before they vanished from the table top, leaving only a swirling green mist that quickly dissipated.

"Oh?" asked Cloud, closing his eyes and relaxing his shoulders, hoping to find that in-between place where Aerith could lean against his back. He felt her bow brush against his exposed shoulder and smiled softly.

"Denzel says that he's still holding you to your word. Tifa says to be careful, and would like to know if your brothers prefer to share a room or if they'd like their own. Yuffie would like her materia back. Vincent says to tell you that he now has a phone and wants to know if you've found an answer yet. Cid says that Fenrir is fine and some other things I'd rather not repeat. Marlene wants to know when you're coming home and Barrett…also said some things I'd rather not repeat, but I think the gist of it was that he wished you luck and hopes for your safe return. Reno said to bring him back a souvenir and…well, I don't think Rude actually said anything now that I think about it. Rufus Shin-Ra said that he had something for you when you get back, and to please stop by to pick it up." Aerith recited dutifully.

"Rooms?" asked Yazoo, a slightly suspicious tilt to his voice. He rocked back on his heels, widening his stance defensively as he glared at Cloud.

"Well of course we'd live with Ni-san once we get back Aniki." Snapped Kadaj to Yazoo, frustration on his face. Yazoo glowered back at him, saying nothing, but Cloud could tell by the way his shoulders kept tensing up that the two of them were still arguing silently between them. Loz anxiously looked between them and then scrambled to approach Cloud.

"Ne Ni-san, if we live with you when we get back, that means we'll be living with Tifa too right? She's the one I played with in the church right?" Asked Loz, glancing back at his still feuding brothers to see if his attempted distraction was having any effect.

Cloud nodded, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning. Cloud struggled with himself for a moment before deciding to try something he'd never done with anyone besides Zack and Tifa.

"I still have to pay you back for that you know. And Tifa will want a rematch when we get back; it should be more even now that you don't have your pile bunker anymore." He teased gently, smiling slightly and hoping Loz wouldn't take it as an actual challenge.

"Seriously? I could totally fight her again! She was really cute!" Said Loz excitedly, bouncing on the balls on his feet. The look that Yazoo gave him was positively poisonous.

"No. I absolutely _forbid_ it." He said in a slow, dangerous, drawl.

"Cute?" said Cloud, looking like someone had just hit him over the head with Buster Sword.

"She was the long haired chick with the nice rack right?" asked Kadaj absently, having turned away for Yazoo to gaze out the window and only listening to their conversation with half an ear. In his mind the issue was already settled and discussing it further was a waste of time. They'd be living with Cloud and that meant living with Tifa, which he could deal with because she was important to his Ni-san. He'd seen her from afar when they were spying on their only blonde brother and when she'd helped Cloud defeat Bahamut, so he didn't have a very comprehensive understanding of her, but Loz had said she was decent fighter, despite not having much in the way of Mako.

"What?" barked Cloud in surprise, physically recoiling from his youngest brother. He wasn't sure if he was more surprised his youngest and therefore, in his mind at least, most innocent brother had even noticed her…uh…assets, or that he'd had the audacity to even say such a thing.

"_Oh_ yeah." Confirmed Loz with a leer on his face. Yazoo hooked a leg behind his older brother's knee and slammed him into the ground with a look of utter revulsion on his face. Loz allowed himself to be thrown, smiling childishly. He'd successfully stopped Yazoo and Kadaj from fighting, a little pain was a small price to pay.

"I said that I _absolutely forbid it_! Stop _thinking_ about her!" growled Yazoo, looking for all the world like a cat that had had its fur rubbed the wrong way. He planted a foot in the middle of his older and now giggling brother's back and shoved him back down.

"Alright, that's enough. She's one of my oldest and dearest friends and I _will_ thoroughly kick all of your asses for messing with her." Said Cloud with a scowl. Kadaj's estimation of Tifa went up a few notches and he mentally added her to the inner circle of his growing family. He'd do _whatever it took_ to make sure Cloud stayed with them, even if he had to accept every one of Cloud's friends into his closely guarded family.

"If you are all quite finished, we do have the defenses to prepare. In case you've forgotten, we do have an army of orcs and fouler things descending upon us with the sole purpose of destroying us utterly." Snapped Elrohir in a tone that in anyone else would have been mildly sarcastic, but for him was an outright reprimand.

Cloud had the decency to look a little embarrassed. Loz looked alarmed and hurried to apologize for their inattention and offered to help where ever he could. Yazoo snorted in disgust and pointedly turned away from the annoyed looking assembly of men elves and a single dwarf. Kadaj gazed out the window with wistful look and ignored them all, before he agilely leapt out the window without a word.

'Where are you going?' whispered Cloud to Kadaj, an unconcerned glance at the window his only outward indication that he'd seen the youngest Advent seemingly leap to his death.

'Come out and see. I think it's time we taught you how to Summon and control the Lurkers.' Said Kadaj. Cloud shrugged and turned on his heel, calmly walking out the still gaping double doors at a leisurely pace. He didn't react at all when his two other brothers fell into step behind him, after all, Kadaj had said 'we'.

0o0o0

End part 17

To the multiple people who wanted to see Bahamut absolutely thrash the orc army: erm, sorry? Not going to happen. All the summons come from the Lifestream and are only summoned _through_ materia. No materia has enough power to actually _contain _a summons, especially a god summons like Bahamut. So even if I didn't account for all of their materia failing on them due to lack of Lifestream, they still wouldn't have been able to summon anything. Now a few of their advantages, like being able to heal people or boost their speed with materia, are gone. This evens out the playing field a little, as I don't want the FF7 people to be obnoxiously overpowered garystues. The only powers they will have will be strictly cannon, I promise.

To the person who asked if middle-earth has phoenixes or even legends of phoenixes: eh, I don't know actually. I'm just going to say that they do and wave my creative license card at this one. If anyone actually knows the answer to this, feel free to shout it out.

Yeah, so sorry for the short chapter, but on the bright side, all the set up is now done. I hope, the muse isn't talking, but I think we can start the fighting and killing soon. Right? Muse? We _can_ start the war now right?


	18. Chapter 18

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

By: Lazeralk

Standard disclaimers apply.

Once again, ("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. 'Blah' is the Advents and Cloud sharing thoughts.

0o0o0

Kadaj's smile almost slipped, but he wrestled it back into place, doing his best to conceal the hurt and the irrational anger he was feeling. He stood on the long wall that served as the outer most defenses of the fortress, hand extended and face struggling to maintain his expression. Cloud was eyeing his open palm like it might bite him, his frown more severe than usual.

"Come on Ni-san, just take my hand. I'll show you how to summon the Lurkers." Kadaj encouraged softly, trying not to spook his body-shy brother. Cloud took a deep, shuddering breath and visibly forced himself to raise his hand, stopping just shy of actually touching Kadaj. The youngest of the Advents held very, very still, somehow sensing how monumentally important this small action would be. The slight breeze brought the faint scent of sweet smelling flowers and Cloud slowly, painstakingly lowered his hand until his fingers rested lightly in Kadaj's palm.

Kadaj smiled brilliantly and latched hungrily onto the connection the contact forged between them. He pushed, lightly at first, but with ever increasing pressure at the barrier that shrouded Cloud's mind, seeking a place where they could meet on equal terms. He found the blonde in a small glade, filled with flowers and light. It contrasted quite harshly with the black thundering emptiness that begun just beyond the borders of the tiny glade and stretched out into infinity for as far as the eye could see. Kadaj studied the darkness with a frown on his face, not understanding where the darkness had come from. Hadn't his Ni-san had a good life, raised by a mother that loved him? Hadn't he found glory in SOLDIER? Why was his mind so bleak?

"Kadaj." Said the dream Cloud, bringing his attention back to the blonde he'd come to find.

"Ni-san! Are you ready to learn about the Lurkers?" he asked excitedly, eyes glowing bright. Even if his mind-scape was damaged and strange, this was the closest his Ni-san had ever allowed him. He'd even touched him of his own free will, knowing that they would be even closer! It was a huge victory.

Then his Ni-san did something very strange. Mid-nod, the blonde's figure…_flickered_. For half an instant his short, blonde and moody Ni-san had looked tall, black-haired and happy. Kadaj blinked and by the time his eyes were open again, Cloud looked just like he normally did, frowning at him and everything.

"Um, right, so hold on to my hands and feel what I do ok?" said Kadaj, holding out his hands and brutally suppressing his automatic reaction of connecting to Yazoo and Loz to share what he'd seen. There would be time enough for that later. Cloud frowned but moved to take his hands, with noticeably less hesitation this time around. Kadaj wondered at that before the answer brushed against his thoughts, so closely intertwined with Cloud's own. There was no one here to see him, no one here take advantage of that momentary weakness. The silver-haired Advent felt an echoing instinct in himself, a reaction trained into him from the labs. Only family got to touch him. He realized with something like shock that he had a very similar reaction to anyone else that wasn't either his family, or someone he felt he could absolutely take out without a problem, that tried to touch him. His own reaction was much weaker and better controlled than his Ni-san's but it was there. He suddenly understood why his brother flinched away from being touched with perfect clarity. Or rather he understood the reaction, though the memories of the reason were hidden from him.

Cloud tugged lightly on his hands to get his attention and then gasped as Kadaj reflexively Summoned, remembering what he'd come to do and doing it in the same instant. A single Lurker appeared inside the glade, whining at the darkness that surrounded them before it vanished.

Cloud frowned, eyes narrowed in concentration, 'feeling' in a way he'd never felt before. He had 'felt' with this new strange sense the movement of energy through Kadaj, had 'felt' the thought mix with that energy and made a startling discovery. The Lurkers were not something that just waited to be summoned from somewhere; they were literally a part of Kadaj. They were a physical manifestation of his own life energy, or rather, they came from _within_ Kadaj. Idly, Cloud recognized that this explained why the Lurkers were totally unaffected by the lack of Lifestream in Middle Earth while their Materia had not been so fortunate.

"Again." He said and concentrated on what else he could 'feel' about the process. Kadaj obliged him without a word and another Lurker manifested into his mind-scape. Now that was looking for it, he saw and 'felt' that the Lurkers were somehow, inexplicably, made from Kadaj's shadow. The darkness was somehow charged with thought and energy and made into a Lurker. He didn't quite understand how to do it, but sort of understood the concept behind it.

"How?" asked Cloud, knowing that Kadaj would know exactly what he was asking. Kadaj dropped his hands and tilted his head to the side, eyes rolling skyward. He tucked one hand under the opposite elbow and tapped a finger from the other hand on his chin.

"Hmmm…I don't actually know. I just…_do_ it." Said Kadaj, giving his brother a helpless shrug.

Cloud scowled at him and crossed his arms over his chest. Suddenly Kadaj was in a well furnished apartment, the methodic hum of a ceiling fan and the quiet ticking of an ornate clock filling the posh home. Kadaj whirled in surprise, hand reaching automatically to the small of his back where Souba swung in her sheath. Sephiroth walked out of what Kadaj assumed to be the kitchen with a steaming dish in his hands, completely ignoring him.

"Aniue?" he asked, but Sephiroth didn't react at all. So absorbed in his shock at seeing his eldest brother, the one Mother had praised and whispered about for all his life, he didn't even notice the other person in the room. Sephiroth set the dish on a beautifully carved wooden table in front of another man. Kadaj sucked in a harsh breath as he caught sight of that other man, recognition and confusion flooding his mind. The black spiky hair and broad shoulders matched the man that his Ni-san had looked like for that brief flickering instant. Even the clothes were the same.

"This is your first time cooking right Seph?" asked the brunette as he licked his lips clean of the bite he'd just stolen from the dish.

"Use the plate Zachary." Said Sephiroth with a frown as he took a seat across from the other SOLDIER.

"Zack." The other corrected automatically, reaching for the large serving spoon on the table. Kadaj's eyes narrowed as he studied the suddenly much more interesting stranger. So this was his Ni-san's 'Zack'.

"What did you do? Suck culinary knowledge out of Betty Crocker's soul?* Seriously man, how do you _do_ this?" asked the dark-haired man with a chipper smile as he loaded his plate with some sort of delicious smelling casserole.

"I don't know. I just…do." Said Sephiroth, staring at the steaming dish with a blank, but somehow troubled expression.

Cloud shook his shoulders, a furious snarl on his face. Kadaj was back in the glade, all traces of Sephiroth and Zack gone as if they'd never been.

"What did you see?" demanded Cloud, thunder crackling dangerously in the darkness that surrounded the little glade, the temperature rising with Cloud's anger. Kadaj had never seen his Ni-san so angry before and for a moment he was frightened. He jerked his hand back, shaking his head to clear the light dizziness that breaking their connection had left him with. Cloud, with much less experience, stumbled backwards, catching his balance against the wall as he shook his head and blinked rapidly, trying to shake the disorientation.

Yazoo put a hand on Kadaj's shoulder, asking without words if he was alright. Kadaj watched Cloud carefully with mako green eyes as he put his hand over Yazoo's, the slightly distant look in the middle child's eyes giving away the depth of their internal communication. Loz frowned and set a hand on top of Kadaj's, his expression going from a sullen pout at being excluded to surprise and then concern. Cloud ignored them all, eyes screwed shut as he battled with dredged up memories he was only half certain were his.

Warm hands were suddenly on his shoulders and he jerked sharply, a blind panic sending him scrambling for the hilt of a blade.

"Peace my friend!" said Elrohir, hands held up before him, palms out. The elf began to speak soothingly in his own language, taking slow, but deliberate steps towards the jumpy blonde.

"Peace, your are safe here my friend." He said watching as Cloud calmed himself and eased his hand away from his weapons. The SOLDIER looked away from the advancing elf and took a steadying breath, his body shaking ever so slightly. Elrohir slowly held his hands out and carefully placed them back on Cloud's shoulders, stubbornly ignoring his flinch. Cloud glared at him, but allowed the contact.

"Do you want to tell me what that was all about?" said the dark-haired beauty as he looked down at the much smaller blonde. The elf's eyes showed nothing but genuine concern and a steady sort of kindness that refused to be tainted by the ghosts of Cloud's past. The blonde let those kind eyes steady him until his shaking stopped and he felt strong enough to speak.

"Kadaj was teaching me how to Summon Lurkers." Said Cloud, taking a deliberate step backwards to break the contact between them. He gazed at the elf, his eyes more clear than before, but his stance unwelcoming. Elrohir, having had many a long year to become acquainted with all the subtle nuances of body-language, read the blonde correctly and turned to face the trio of silver-haired SOLDIERS that were still quietly communing among themselves. He kept his posture firm, but not confrontational, and Cloud eventually relaxed once he was no longer the center of attention.

"And how did that go Kadaj?" asked Elrohir, doing his best to watch all of their faces for their reactions. Kadaj disentangled himself from his brothers and pushed Loz forward with perhaps a touch more force than necessary, his expression sunny, and not the least bit telling.

"Go, Loz." He said, a very clear order. He then turned his single-minded focus to Elrohir and gave the elf a serene smile.

"Ni-san got the basics down, now Loz will teach him technique. Then Yazoo will walk him through a real-world Summon." Said the smallest Advent cheerily. Clearly, this had already been arranged, as Loz was nodding and Yazoo looked unhappy but resigned.

"And will this 'teaching of technique' cause the same reaction as before? We need you all to be in top form. Estel estimates that our enemy will be upon us come nightfall." Said the elf, casting a slightly worried expression towards Cloud, who was moodily facing away from them, shoulders hunched as he stared out across the empty fields of Rohan. The sun was already on the decent, painting the sky in brilliant colors as it struck the clouds.

"We'll be fine Elrohir-san. If Ni-san can Summon, it will be one more advantage for us. We'll need that advantage to help counter-balance the loss of our Materia." Said Loz, as much to Cloud as to Elrohir. Cloud shrugged his shoulders, shifting his sword holster around a bit before he nodded, seemingly to himself and turned to face Loz. He eyed the bigger man stoically, waiting.

'You have to offer him your hand Oni-chan.' Said Kadaj waspishly, the sting of his words softened somewhat but the affectionate nickname. Cloud glanced sharply at Kadaj, a touch surprised that he'd heard a thought that was obviously intended only for Loz. The eldest of the Advents blinked and then strutted confidently over to Cloud and presented his hand with a flourish and roguish smirk. Yazoo rolled his eyes, but Loz ignored him. Elrohir leaned against the wall and watched them all with interest.

Cloud glanced around himself and then studied Loz's hand for a moment. Showing just as much caution as he had with Kadaj, he carefully set just the tips of his fingers on Loz's open palm. The switch to mind-scape was much faster than before, Kadaj having already found a path through Cloud's mental defenses for Loz to follow.

Loz and Cloud stood together in the small glade full of flowers and light, the darkness that stretched out beyond the glade now seemed to have the outline of Midgar's city-scape off in the distance and a huge rusted sword stuck into a ledge floating along in the dark, higher up than the city. Loz only spared these a passing glance before he held his hands out, eager to show off his clearly superior Summoning technique, that's why Kadaj chose him to show Ni-san how to do it after all.

The blonde grimaced but dutifully took the offered hands and settled himself in to 'feel' how it was done. Loz Summoned, and to Cloud, it seemed as if he'd somehow slowed the whole process down, letting Cloud 'feel' every nuance of the energy flow as Loz did when he Summoned. Cloud frowned and tried to duplicate it, getting a thin wisp of shadow to form at his side. Loz's Lurker sniffed at it and it vanished. Far from discouraged Cloud tried again, this time getting a bigger shadow, though it still had no definable shape.

Loz smiled at him encouragingly and demonstrated again, that same slow process. Cloud withdrew his hands and _pushed _his energy into the correct pattern, watching as something huge and four legged began to take shape. Slowly, the Lurker's features became more defined. Shaggy fur twitched and swayed as the Lurker moved and Cloud lost his hold on it in surprise. The almost finished Lurker vanished in a puff of smoke.

"You almost had it." Said Loz, beaming.

"Why did mine have fur? The Lurkers all look the same don't they? Why is mine different?" muttered Cloud, knowing that Loz would hear him no matter how softly he spoke.

"You are different from me." Said Loz, as if such a statement explained everything. Cloud frowned at him but then, he supposed it did make a sort of strange sense. The three Advents would all have the same Lurkers that Sephiroth had, because, technically, they _were_ Sephiroth. Or at least, they didn't have anything that Sephiroth didn't have, genetically speaking, so all three 'pieces' of him would be able to Summon the same kind of Lurker. He was very different from Sephiroth, and by virtue of that, very different from the three Advents. He supposed it would only make sense then that his Lurkers would be different, seeing as that they were made from within him.

Keeping this in mind, Cloud tried again, pushing with his energy and his thought, noticing that this time was a little easier than the last time and the big Lurker formed a little more quickly. When the new Lurker had lost all of its misty edges, it shook out its fur and let its tongue loll in his direction. Cloud smiled ruefully.

"Figures I'd get a Nibel Wolf."

"Now that the shape is defined, you should have a much easier time Summoning Ni-san. Ready to try it outside?" said Loz, not even waiting for Cloud's reply before he broke their connection and withdrew his hand. Cloud blinked as he came back to himself, this time with no dizziness at all. In fact it felt not dissimilar to switching back and forth from when he spoke to Aerith. Of course, he wasn't really angry and upset this time around either.

"Well?" asked Yazoo snidely, a pair of Lurkers springing into existence behind him. Cloud met his challenge silently but _pushed_ with all his might and was pleased when the familiar form of a Nibel Wolf rose from the shadows to pace at his side. The Wolf was easily as large as the Lurkers, and the three massive predators gave each other curious sniffs. Summoning in the real world was a great deal more difficult than in his mind scape, but Cloud knew that if he practiced he'd get better at it, and he'd be able to Summon more than just the one. He looked at the setting sun and grimaced. It wouldn't be long before sun set and that was all the time he had to get better at his Summoning.

"I guess we'd better mosey then, right Hati?" he asked his Wolf and _pushed_.

0o0o0

*I shamelessly stole this line from sephcounttheways' story Kittens. It's a totally awesome fic, go read it!

To the people who left comments wondering how Cloud would learn to Summon Lurkers and being all excited about it: This chapter is entirely your fault. I was all poised to just be like: "And then Cloud randomly and magically could Summon Lurkers! Hurray! On with the fighting!" But then my muse was all like: "That's a great opportunity to dreg up some more interpersonal issues!" And I was totally over-ruled. Plus she got to write Sephiroth, which is always a plus, cuz he's…you know, Sephiroth. So, my muse is cackling evilly and screaming "SUCKERS!" at the top of her lungs. I guess the battle gets to wait another chapter. But I guess the stuff in this chapter was kinda cool, not as cool as flying Orc guts, but still kinda cool yeah?


	19. Chapter 19

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

By: Lazeralk

Standard disclaimers apply.

Once again, ("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. 'Blah' is the Advents and Cloud sharing thoughts.

Sorry for the delay! I'm not willing to admit defeat yet, so stick with me! Or at least try to remember what this was about when it pops up at the top of your favorites list!

0o0o0

The sun was almost completely set by the time the dark mass of the approaching army became discernable from the more mundane shadows that stretched across the land. Cloud gazed out over the fields and felt a small tickle of nerves. He shrugged his shoulders to settle his blades but it didn't bring him the easy of security it always had before. A boy of about fifteen stood beside him, chainmail shirt sleeves completely covering the small hands that held a dented shield and a sword that was just as tall as he was. Cloud focused very hard on not looking at that boy, knowing there were so many more just like him on the wall. The sun vanished beneath the horizon and Cloud watched as calmly as he could as thousands of torches were lit amongst the enemy. He tried not to frown at their efficiency. On and on, the black mass marched over the fields.

"There are so many." Whispered the boy at his side, his chainmail jingling as he shook in fright.

Cloud glanced at him, his face blank. He didn't know what to say, so he turned his head and watched them come without saying anything. A tight pressure built his chest, achingly familiar guilt settling nicely into its well worn niche.

'What should we do Ni-san?' whispered Kadaj in his head. The Advents and Cloud were spaced as evenly as they dared along the wall, pitiful few Rohiric soldiers and armed civilians strung between them.

'What do you mean?' asked Cloud back.

'Do you want us to focus on taking out the enemy, or protecting the civies?'

Cloud smirked and shook his head. 'You can't do both?' he shot back, challenging.

'Seriously, do we have a plan?' came Yazoo's snide voice through his mind. The sharpshooter was closer to the center of their lineup, his keen eyes sweeping over the enemy intently.

'Ni-san?' asked Kadaj, and Cloud knew without thinking about it what Kadaj wanted. The blonde glanced down the rows of trembling defenders and met his youngest brother's glowing green eyes. Slowly he nodded, grimacing as he accepted the weight of responsibility. He always _hated_ it when he was elected leader. He straightened his back and gazed out at the approaching army.

'Alright, Yazoo: try to conserve as many bullets as you can, but take out their commanders if you can spot them. Loz and Kadaj, we'll focus on keeping as many Lurkers on the field as we can and aim for their siege engines. If anyone else has a long range limit break, use it. We'll do as much damage as we can before they even touch the walls. Protect our regulars if you can, we have to last five days. Aragorn says the cavalry should be here by then.' Ordered Cloud. He paused, and then looked around at their 'regulars'. These boys and old men who were now soldiers, but not SOLDIER, shaking like regulars before a battle, but without that absolute trust in the SOLDIERS that fought at their side. He felt the need to make them see him the way he always saw Zack. He wanted them to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that any SOLDIER was worth a hundred orcs on the battlefield. He wanted them to be less afraid, to have faith in him and his abilities.

'Daj, you better warn them about the gun rapport.' He said, eyes hard as the rain began to fall.

"Alright, listen up!" yelled Kadaj from his spot atop the battlements, hands fisted on his hips, back straight and proud. Everyone turned to look at him, absolutely silent, desperation clear on their faces. Kadaj smiled serenely, and Cloud really hoped no one else noticed how insane his little brother looked just then.

"When the fighting starts, you will hear some very loud banging noises! Do not be alarmed, it's just Yazoo making the enemy commander's heads explode! There will be huge wolf looking things all over the place! They are NOT wrags! They are Lurkers and they are on our side! Any giant flashes of colorful light will also be us!" shouted Kadaj, his words ringing clearly over the eerie silence that had befallen their rag tag group of defenders. Arms akimbo, the youngest of the Advents leaned forward a bit and grinned cheekily at his audience.

"Right then, no worries. Let's have some fun!"

"YE~AH!" screamed Loz from down the wall, his giant broad sword lifted above his head, the expression on his face absolutely joyous. Aragorn, standing next to him, stared at him for a moment then shrugged and added his own hurrah. Emboldened, the rest of their Rohiric citizens joined the call. Kadaj raised his fist and Yazoo, then Loz copied him. Lurkers, called by the dozens erupted from the shadows. The massive black beasts roared their challenge to the enemy, a strange echoing roar utterly unlike any beast that had ever walked Middle-Earth before. They lined the wall's base, huge claws digging into the mud. They clung to the top of the wall, their fearful human comrades giving them ample space to claw at the air and thrash their spiked tails.

Kadaj turned his head, silver hair flying as he sought out Cloud's eyes. Glowing green met glowing blue and whispered thoughts passed between them. 'Here's to endurance training.' Said Kadaj. 'Don't get killed.' Said Cloud. Kadaj smiled radiantly, 'You either.'

Cloud let out a quick breath, drew his fully assembled First Tsurugi and spun it over his head once. He felt more than saw the blade glow with the power of his attack, then leapt from the wall in a single graceful bound. The giant sword and its blonde owner hit the ground at the same time and the huge wave of light that raced out from the blade to meet the inky mass of the enemy, lit up the battlefield in way that could only be called beautiful. With a single stroke of his sword, Cloud brought down his first dozen orcs. The SOLDIER quickly broke his massive blade into two even swords, raised them high and charged into the fray, three massive Nibel wolves guarding his flanks.

Loz's jaw dropped in surprise before he yelled in frustration. "Ni-san! That's not fair! Wait for me!" The largest of the advents threw himself off the battlements, broadsword spinning wildly over his head as he rushed to meet the swarming orcs, Lurkers on either side. Kadaj rolled his eyes.

"They're mad. All of them, mad." Exclaimed Gimli in astonishment as he and the elf beside him watched the brothers carve considerable dents in the enemy army. The dozens of Lurkers on the ground charged into the fray, huge claws and razor teeth tearing orcs apart. The orcs of Saruman were too large a force for two lone SOLDIERS and few packs of Lurkers to hold at bay however, and masses of them swarmed around and between the loosely spaced defenders while others readied arrows for the first barrage.

"Archers!" screamed Aragorn, sword held high as his small army readied their bows. Arrows filled the air for one breathless moment before the screaming began. The battlefield roared with the clash of metal, the screams of the dying and the challenges of the survivors. Men and orcs and Lurkers fought chaotically around him, but he did not move, his glowing green eyes carefully scanning the enemy forces for something specific. Yazoo's eyes narrowed as he watched, and he carefully sighted down the barrel of his Velvet Nightmare. The startling bang of the gun shook the fortress, and for a moment the commotion around him slowed as men and orcs alike searched frantically for the source of the sound. Off in the distance, a highly decorated Uruk-hai commander toppled off the rock he'd been shouting orders from, a small hole directly between his eyes, and the entire back half of his head conspicuously missing.

'Nice shot Yaz!' Loz sent to his favorite brother, the devastating motions of his broad sword never faltering.

'I'm coming.' Whispered Kadaj to both Cloud and Loz, Souba singing as she cleared her sheath. Kadaj watched intently as his two brothers on the ground were nearly swallowed by the enemy, two wide holes in the black mass marking their position. The orcs moved around them, blocking the superior SOLDIERS with their bodies to protect the encroaching ladders that were slowly being carried forward. The orcs dug the ends in and started to raise them in a tandem towards the wall. Cloud caught the sight of them from the corner of his eye as he neatly beheaded a trio of orcs with his left hand blade. Another shot rang out as Yazoo picked off an enemy commander foolish enough to expose himself for the split second the sharpshooter needed to adjust his aim.

'Kadaj!' he called, sending a brief flicker of image to his youngest brother, his view of the ladders coming up, pulled along the ropes attached to the hooks the enemy had dug into the wall.

'Got it!' called the youngest back. Kadaj was crouched atop the wall, on the end closest to the entrance. With a swiftness and surefootedness that startled the men, and one dwarf and one elf, watching, Kadaj raced along the wall, Souba cleanly severing the ropes that were dragging the ladders up. Several of the ladders crashed back on to the battlefield, crushing the orcs that had already climbed them underneath. A few made it to the top and the orcs spilled over the edge, meeting the resistance of enraged and terrified Rohiric soldiers. Kadaj slashed and hacked with Souba but for every orc he killed two more seemed to take its place. With only two ladders anchored to the wall, the incoming hoard was slower than it could have been had all the ladders made it up, but for the pitiful few men guarding the wall, it was more than enough.

'Cloud.' Came Yazoo's voice in his head, startling him for a moment, as this was the very first time he Yazoo had spoken to him mind-to-mind. The blonde reassembled his swords and felt the charge build along the blade. The three massive wolves kept the enemy away from him just long enough to slam the sword into the ground and send the wave of his limit break into the advancing hoard.

'What's up?' He asked back when Yazoo didn't continue.

'We have a problem.' Said Yazoo, his keen eyes watching as a group of heavily guarded orcs ran towards the wall, carrying a huge black pot with a lid. He sent these images to Cloud, and the hint of his suspicion. A single orc with a torch, burning some sort of chemical rather than wood started running forward, just as the orcs with the pot set it down into the drain.

'They have a freaking bomb!'

"Bring him down Legolas!" screamed Aragorn somewhere overhead. Yazoo carefully sighted, not even flinching when an arrow sailed past his ear and buried itself into the runners shoulder. Velvet Nightmare kicked just a little in his hand as the shot rang out; hitting the runner's left knee and obliterating the joint. The orc went down, struggling to keep the torch upright. Another suicidal orc picked it up and continued the run.

Yazoo scowled but sighted again. An Uruk-hai commander saw him, having figured out by now that the loud bangs were very bad things and shouted the orders for his archers to focus on the bright shock of silver hair on the edge of the wall.

'Damn.' Cursed Yazoo softly as he took his shot at the new runner, destroying its knee joint, before he ducked around the block of stone to his right to shield him from the arrows that assaulted his position. A third orc picked up the torch and threw itself into the drain. The outer wall exploded, sending startled screams of shock and horror into the air as the enemy poured into the once impenetrable fortress. Cloud and Loz retreated from the outer field, felling orcs left and right as they raced back into the fortress to focus their strength on defending the inner walls.

The days and nights blurred together as they slowly lost ground to the massive enemy army. The Lurkers were lost and re-summoned, their dark skeletal bodies covered in gore. Weary and bleeding, the remaining defenders barred the gates of the inner fortress and prayed for salvation.

'One day left.' Said Cloud, his once beautiful sword nearly black with blood he didn't have time to clean off. He didn't sheath it, knowing that the leather harness would only become even more dirty that it already was.

'I'm out of bullets.' Said Yazoo, tucking his guns into the holsters on his sides and pulling the long elven knives from their sheathes. The middle child looked down at his blood and gore spattered leathers with a grimace of distaste. His brothers weren't in much better shape, their once pristine uniforms soaked through with black blood and thicker things.

'Another go? We can get out through the roof.' Said Kadaj, Souba in one hand, a battered Rohiric short sword in the other.

'I'm game.' Said Loz.

'Okay then. Let's mosey.' Said Cloud, already moving towards the staircase that led out onto the roof.

"What did he just say?" asked Yazoo out loud, causing several Rohiric soldiers and Aragorn to glance over at him in confusion.

"Let's _mosey_? What the hell does that even mean?" continued Yazoo aloud. Kadaj and Loz snickered, sharing a look between them. Cloud blushed and continued on as if he hadn't heard.

"Where are you going?" demanded a haggard and bloody King Théoden, having by now realized what a huge asset the four mysterious brothers were. In the four days they'd been fighting, the four of them had taken down more enemies than the Rohiric force of three hundred men combined. The proud king refused to apologize to the outlanders, but he was now much more inclined to pay attention to them and give their opinions weight.

"We're going to go have another round with the uglies." Said Loz, smiling wickedly. The four of them paused at the bottom of the stairs to speak to the exhausted looking king.

"See to your wounded, we'll hold them for another day. You owe us a bath and a solid day of sleep after this though. And meat. I'm craving steak." Snipped Yazoo, impatiently smacking the flat of his right hand blade against his knee.

"I want curry. I've had the weirdest craving for Wutainese curry for the last week solid." Added Kadaj. "What about you Ni-san? What kind of food do you want?" The youngest turned adoring eyes to his oldest brother, a bright smile on his face. Cloud frowned, considering the question seriously before a nostalgic smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Schnitzel. And sauerbraten. My mom use to make the most amazing sauerbraten. I'll make it for you if I can find the right ingredients." The blonde promised, earning a jubilant smile from Kadaj and looks of disbelief from Yazoo and Loz.

"Really Ni-san? You'll cook for us?" cried Kadaj in delight, nearly bouncing in his happiness. The motion dislodged unidentifiable bits of orc from his filthy leathers. Yazoo's lip curled back at the sight and he mentally reaffirmed his demand for a bath. He wasn't quite sure how he wanted to feel about the prospect of Cloud cooking for him, so he thought about something else. Feeling absolutely disgusting made for an easy distraction and the moodiest of the Advents eagerly snapped it up.

"Yeah, sure." Said Cloud, thinking back on his promise to do for them all the things his mother use to do for him.

"Let's go." He said, turning to lead the three silver haired brothers up the stairs.

'Thank you Ni-san.' Whispered Kadaj, his happiness a tangible weighty thing in Clouds mind, moving like warm sunlight across his shoulders.

'You're welcome.' He answered, bemused that such a small thing could give his littlest brother so much pleasure.

The four SOLDIERS, three dozen Lurkers and four Nibel wolves held the outer fortress for another day and when the cavalry arrived with the dawn, they were surprised to find much less resistance than they expected.

Once the battle was truly over and the fresh troops settled into the fortress, a private bath was drawn for the four brothers and King Théoden surrendered his own bed chambers. The murmurs that followed the four SOLDIERS as they collapsed into the bed together, like a pile of exhausted puppies, were much more reverent than they'd been at Edoras. Cloud's last coherent thought was that he was just as unhappy being admired as he was disliked before sweet oblivion claimed him.

0o0o0o0

And that's it for chapter 20. Sorry for the delay guys, this fic just won't cooperate with me. I have no idea what's going on with this story anymore, but I promise that I'll do my best not to abandon it! At this point, please feel free to throw me suggestions or ideas or just random things you'd like to see, even if it doesn't fit or it's something that could only happen way down the road. Anything to get the inspiration back, you know?

-Laz


	20. Chapter 20

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

By: Lazeralk

Standard disclaimers apply.

Once again, ("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. 'Blah' is the Advents and Cloud sharing thoughts.

Wow! I got such a great response for the last chapter! Thanks so much guys! This chapter is dedicated to one of my reviewers, Walter Dash, whose ideas defibrillated this story enough to eek out another chapter.

0o0o0o0

Yazoo pressed his hand to his stomach to sooth the ripping pain that screamed at him in one long continuous wail. He pulled his hand away and gazed down at the blood dripping from his fingers in a state of mild shock. Why was he bleeding? He looked around at the stark metal, cold and aged that surrounded him on all sides, not quite believing what his eyes told him. He stumbled out, not knowing how he knew the way, into the cold bitter snow. He gazed down at the small town he knew would be just to his right and felt his eyes widen with a horror that echoed in his ears at the too bright flames below.

He was suddenly standing by the smoldering remains of a house he'd never seen before and yet somehow knew like a well loved book. He could see the outline of the kitchen and knew just where the table and chairs he'd eaten on a hundred times should have been. A shock of blonde hair, still smoking, caught his eye and dragged his unwilling gaze to the charred and blackened corpse of his beloved mother. A tiny patch of unburned fabric, lilac purple, shifted in the wind and he knew just which dress she'd been wearing when she died. She'd done the little cluster of embroidered white flowers on the sleeves herself. He'd loved that dress on her, because it was her favorite and she always smiled when she wore it.

He was on his knees in the snow, his body fighting to empty his stomach and scream at the same time as hot tears poured down his cheeks. Pain and rage and hate burned in his chest as he slammed his fists into the snow, not minding that his blood was mixing with the vomit on the ground because nothing really mattered anymore. All he could do was scream and scream and scream, the image of his ruined home forever burned into his mind.

'Yazoo! Wake up!'

He jerked awake, sitting up from where he'd been collapsed on Cloud's right side where his head had been resting against the blonde's ribs as he'd slept. Loz was watching him from the other side of Kadaj, mako bright eyes glowing in the darkness of the King's bedroom. As one, they turned their gazes to the blond who slept on, oblivious to the memory he'd unwittingly shared with them. Yazoo threw his legs over the side of the bed and sat, his back towards his brothers and fought to keep his face blank as he rubbed at the phantom wound in his abdomen and tried to tell himself that he'd never been inside that burned down house and he didn't know that woman with the blonde hair and blue eyes and the lilac purple dress.

0o0o0

The fellowship, the king of Rohan, Èomer, Cloud and the Advents were all going to confront someone called Saruman at the insistence of Gandalf. Cloud wasn't entirely sure who he was or why he was important, but he figured he'd hear about it on the road to some place that was called either Orthanc or Isengard or both. The peoples of Edoras would head back towards the city under the escort of Elfhelm, a marshal of the Riddermark. According to what he'd understood of the conversation between the king, Aragorn and Gandalf, they would all head back to Edoras after talking to this Saruman person-or at least, Cloud was pretty sure Saruman was person. After some of the things that had been said about him, at this point, he wouldn't be surprised if Saruman turned out to be a giant talking rabbit.

The strange trees that had arrived on the battlefield at the same time as Gandalf were still in the distance and Cloud eyed them warily. The road to Isengard was through them and Cloud wasn't sure he wanted to go.

"What troubles you?" asked Elrohir as he casually took a place beside the blonde at the wall. The tall elf was resplendent in a new set of clothes. Cloud eyed him with a hint of envy, for the elf had had the foresight to bring a spare set of his own elvish made clothes. The blonde's own clothes were being washed, and by washed, he meant flung repeatedly at a rock on the river bank by a stout Rohiric woman. He was a touch worried about his favorite jeans. He'd cleaned his blades, pauldron and harnesses on his own, not trusting them to anyone. He was currently in borrowed clothes, on loan from the shortest Rohiric soldier, a newly respectful and somewhat amused Èomer, could find.

"You'll ride through there tomorrow right?" he asked, his glowing blue eyes flicking from the elf at his side to the forest in the distance.

"Yes. The trees are a curious thing are they not? Gandalf says they are not of his doing, but of a power far older." Answered Elrohir.

"Older than Gandalf? Must be ancient then." Said Kadaj cheerily from his spot above them on the battlements. Cloud's youngest brother looked carefree, but the blonde could feel the roiling discomfort emanating from the smaller swordsman in waves.

"_Ere iron was found or tree was hewn, when young was mountain under moon, ere ring was made or wrought was woe, it walked the forests long ago._" intoned the dark haired elf, his lilting voice giving the words a song like quality.

"Gandalf said that?" asked Cloud, turning the rhyme over in his head. Elrohir nodded, and watched for his reaction.

"We'll go around. My brothers and I. Even from here, I can feel them pushing against us." Said Cloud, idly noting Kadaj nodding his agreement in his peripheral vision.

"Pushing against you? Whatever do you mean?" asked Elrohir, eyeing his charge strangely.

"We're…different."

0o0o0

Cloud and Advents were running flat out as fast as they could go, trying to catch up with the leisurely walking party that was cutting straight through Fangorn forest. Their freshly washed and sun-dried leathers creaked and groaned and as they moved, loosening the dyed skins to conform to their bodies. New, lower quality but kindly given, weapons bounced against their backs and thighs as they ran, one eye trained on the hostile forest they skirted. The trees churned in aggravation at their proximity, the branches cracking and moaning as they swayed ominously in the wind-less plain.

Cloud pushed himself to move faster, deeply hurt that the trees rejected him. He knew why they did, they all knew why. This Planet could sense the bits of Calamity that they carried. The lingering traces of Heaven's Dark Harbinger coursed through their veins like poison, and this Planet, understandably, recoiled. The trees could feel it too, and even though Cloud understood, it still wounded him. He was so use to Aerith's and Gaia's acceptance of him, despite the taint, that this Planet's rejection of him stung. In the distance his glowing Mako eyes could make out the train of horses that was the party they sought. Doing his best to ignore the ache in his chest as he caught sight of a tree lashing out at him in useless anger, he put on a burst of speed. His brothers followed, their own thoughts running in similar trains as his, but less upset by it. Gaia had always rejected them so this Planet's rejection was nothing new. They were upset only for Cloud's sake. Kadaj glared harshly at the trees, as if by glaring he could make them accept his most beloved brother.

The horses at the side closest to them shied and jumped when the SOLDIERS cleared the trees and raced towards them like black blurs. Once they reached the head of the column they checked their speed and walked for a few minutes beside the horses that had been brought along for them. Cloud caught the suspicious look that Gimli and Legolas shot him as he mounted his horse and did his best to ignore it. They came to a fork in the road and turned north in silence.

0o0o0

Cloud and the Advents fanned out as the party reached their destination, slipping easily from the saddles of their horses and moving like nimble shadows across the rocks that jutted up from the water. They didn't pause when their traveling companions stopped to talk to two small men lounging on a large slab of rock smoking. They weren't a part of this, and they knew it, so they spread out and tried to give the reuniting friends some privacy. Yazoo cocked his head to the side as he listened to them speak, a spark of interest running like a volt of electricity through all of their minds.

The vibrating boom of something heavy hitting the ground made Cloud leap for a large rock, hands already reaching for his blades when he stopped and stared up at the creature that approached him with mild surprise. It was something like a cross between a man and a tree. Easily fifteen feet high and creaking like wood bending in the wind. It wasn't the strangest thing he'd run into, with all the hundreds of different kinds of monsters on Gaia, but it was certainly new.

"Enemy!" it boomed, in a voice that grated against his ears.

Grimly, Cloud prepared for battle, his keen eyes already picking out how best to sever the joints. Dimly, he was aware of the Advents closing in on his position, weapons drawn. The scent of flowers flooded his nose a moment before Aerith was standing in front of him. Well, hovering anyways, her dainty feet two feet from the surface of the water, her back to him and her long hair blowing in the breeze. The tree-man jerked back from her and seemed genuinely confused. Aerith spread her hands and a green glow, not unlike the Lifestream, shimmered to life around her. The tree creaked and groaned, swaying in its place, while Cloud watched, still tensed to fight.

"WEAPON of Gaia." The tree spoke suddenly, filling the silence like a gunshot. "We will not harm you." Then Aerith was gone, and the tree turned and walked away, its booming footsteps setting the water trembling as it walked away.

Cloud let out a shuddering breath and slid his swords back into their sheathes. Kadaj shot him a look. 'What was that all about?' he whispered in an angry hiss.

'The trees don't like us here, because of _her_. Aerith spoke for us, so I guess its ok now.' Answered Cloud. He scanned the horizon but only the trees walking across the flooded battlefield moved and he shrugged his shoulders to settle First Tsurugi more comfortably along his shoulders. Carefully, they edged back over to the group. They caught the tail end of what must have been a bit of a discussion and decided to remain behind with Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas as the three of them settled down to talk to the two small doorkeepers. Gandalf and the King's party split off and went in search of someone called Treebeard. Elrohir caught Cloud's eye as he passes and the blond nodded at him.

"These are our friends who were lost to us for a time, Cloud." Said Aragorn, motioning the blonde over with a hand.

"This one is Meriadoc son of Saradoc, or Merry as he pleases to be called and the other is Peregrin son of Paladin, or Pippin. They are hobbits both." He introduced, placing his hands on each one's small shoulders.

"Cloud Strife, SOLDIER First." Said the blonde, with a short bow of his head, as he met each of the little hobbit's eyes with a steady gaze.

"I'm Kadaj. SOLDIER First."

"Yazoo, SOLDIER First."

"Loz, SOLDIER First. Please to meet you." Said the three brothers one after another, with short bows of their own.

'Why are we here again?' whispered Kadaj to Cloud as the five Fellowship members caught up with each other. Cloud shrugged and leaned back against the rocks, trying to follow both conversations. A slight wave of apprehension passed through Yazoo and to his brothers like a burst of cool air.

"Merry." He said and the members of the Fellowship turned to regard the normally silent and brooding brother with curiosity.

"Yes Yazoo? What can I do for you?" asked the hobbit good-naturedly.

"Saruman sent the army to Helm's Deep from here didn't he?"

"Ah." Said Cloud, already figuring out where the conversation was going. Aragorn shot him a look.

"He did. We heard it was a fierce battle. We were sorry to have missed it." Replied the hobbit.

"The orcs had a bomb. Do you know where the gunpowder is?" pressed Yazoo, eyes fixed on the much smaller hobbit.

"Bomb?" asked Pippin.

"Gunpowder? I'm afraid I haven't any idea what that is Lord Yazoo."

Loz snickered into his hand and Yazoo aimed a backwards kick at him without taking his eyes off the hobbit who'd answered him.

"It would be a fine black power, like pepper." Said Yazoo, more patient than any of them had ever seen them.

"Well. I'm not too sure about any powder, but you're welcome to check the guard house. We're going over that way ourselves. Master Gimli is after pipeweed and theirs wine for Legolas in there. No worries about orcs either, the guardhouse was managed by men."

Yazoo nodded and the group crossed the soaked ground towards the stone building, Merry chattering all the way to Gimli about what sorts of food were available for lunch. Once they'd reached the building, the hobbits took Yazoo up a short set of stairs while the others sat down at a long table to wait. The hobbits came back laden with breads and salted pork, and Yazoo came back with a small barrel over his shoulder.

"Gunpowder?" asked Aragorn, testing the unfamiliar word on his tongue.

"Poor quality, but yes, now I must find a forge, and a smith." Said the sharpshooter cooly. Gimli huffed and looked a bit affronted.

"Dwarves are the finest smiths you'll find." He said, his chest puffing out. Legolas smiled indulgently.

"I've known a fine Elvish smith in my time Gimli." He said.

"Whichever. I'll need to make a mold, and the measurements must be exactly precise." Said Yazoo, watching the two friends with an indifferent expression. He very carefully did not look at Cloud.

"Well then, when we get back to Edoras, you'll find a smithy there and we'll see." Said Aragorn diplomatically, smiling at the silver haired SOLDIER.

"Indeed, and in the mean time Merry, I don't suppose you've any more pipeweed? And another pipe? It seems I lost mine in Moria or before." Said Gimli and the hobbits chattered all about the two barrels of weed they'd found, and Pippin produced a new pipe for the dwarf. The SOLDIERS shifted uncomfortably as the group moved their lunch outside and settled down to smoke and talk and eat.

"Nisan, let's spar?" said Kadaj, bouncing on the balls of his feet as the Fellowship began to tell the tale of how Boromir had fallen and the Ents were called to war. Yazoo set his barrel of gunpowder at Aragorn's feet and joined his brothers as they moved off towards the open space in the distance. Aragorn watched them go, a frown on his face as he considered them. It seemed to him that the four outlanders were either supremely arrogant or else severely socially handicapped. He made a note to speak to Elrohir about it and see what could be done to remedy the situation. If they were arrogant, there was little they could do, for the SOLDIERS were far greater warriors than any he'd ever known. If they were simply uneducated in the finer points of socializing, well, perhaps they could lend a hand. The ranger sincerely hoped that the problem was ignorance rather than arrogance, for all their sakes.

0o0o0

So. Another chapter. I'm actually having to go back to my copy of LotR and re-read everything as I write this. I also have a few scenes already written out that will show up later, it's the stuff in between that's giving me trouble. Still, stick with me! I'm not giving up. I plan to marathon the movies (all four, FF7 Advent Children included) sometime soon to jump start my enthusiasm for this story again. Keep in mind though that I am working on my master's degree and working two jobs, so as they say, patience is a virtue! Still, any comments beyond "please update" and any suggestions, ideas or criticisms are immensely appreciated.

-Laz


	21. Chapter 21

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

By: Lazeralk

Standard disclaimers apply.

Once again, ("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. 'Blah' is the Advents and Cloud sharing thoughts.

You guys are so awesome! There are answers to reviewer questions and comments at the bottom. Thanks for actually making me think about this again. I forgot how much I love this story for a bit there.

0o0o0

Cloud was fighting blind, he could feel the thick cloth of the blindfold cutting into his skin and tugging at his short hair each time he moved to intercept an incoming blow. The familiar joy of the fight filled his muscles with a pleasant burn and he smirked slightly at his unknown opponent. He knew just where his opponent would strike next, some kind of innate sense let him feel the other man's body like two instruments perfectly in tune with each other. The faint scratch of a pen on paper caught his ear just as he deflected another sword stroke. His blood was singing with the thrill of fighting, the world narrowed down to just his body and reaching his senses out as far as he could and there! He twisted his sword and caught his enemy in the side, metal sliding cleanly through flesh. His opponent gasped harshly, a wet gurgle in his throat letting him know he'd punctured a lung even before he ripped his blindfold off to savor his victory.

His sense of pride from winning morphed to horrified confusion as his downed and bleeding opponent looked up at him with Yazoo's face. A strangled sob forced its way out of his throat as he flung his sword carelessly aside, dashed forward and scooped his brother up. He held his smaller brother tightly to his chest and ignored the too hot blood that was gushing through his fingers as he pressed his hands to the wound he'd made himself and tried desperately to stop the bleeding. This was his fault! He'd hurt his brother. He'd hurt his baby brother that he's sworn he'd protect to his dying breath. He was a failure; he didn't deserve to be an older brother. What kind of big brother hurt his younger siblings? Only failed ones did that.

"Yazoo! I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't-. They didn't-. I'm sorry-. Yazoo. Yazoo, I'm sorry!" Hot tears were dripping down his face, and Yazoo was smiling up at gently. His little brother's eyes were full of forgiveness he didn't deserve, and it just made him feel all the more guilty and unworthy.

"Don't cry…Loz." Said Yazoo, blood flecking his too pale lips as he reached up a hand to brush away his tears.

Cloud woke suddenly and automatically forced his breathing to slow down and he carefully sat up. He gazed over at Loz, still sleeping soundly on his side, his back pressed as close to Yazoo's as he could get. The four of them were curled around their tiny fire, set apart from all the others. He sucked in a deep breath, trying to suppress his shudders and raked a hand through his blonde spikes.

There was another hour or two he could have slept if he cared to try, but one of the hobbits, Pippin he guessed, was creeping slowly towards Gandalf. He turned his head to the side and watched the hobbit from the corner of his eye, not wanting the glow of his tell-tale mako eyes to give him away. Pippen approached the old wizard to look at the stone that someone called Wormtongue had thrown at the window of the tower called Orthanc. Who in their right mind would ever consent to being called Wormtongue anyway? Cloud had asked Elrohir for clarification on the difference between Orthanc and Isengard earlier that evening and the elf had been happy to oblige him. Just as the hobbits hands reached out to touch the strange black globe, Kadaj's hand shot out and grabbed his ankle.

The SOLDIER opened glowing cat green eyes that shined like lanterns in the darkness and glared at the hobbit, who'd strayed too close and disrupted the silver haired advents sleep. Cloud wasn't overly surprised, as all SOLDIERS learned to cultivate a sleep-lightly-and-whenever-you-can attitude. Project SOLDIERS like them had learned to sleep very lightly indeed early on, especially in the labs.

"Kadaj?" whispered the hobbit, surprised by the brightly glowing eyes glaring up at him balefully.

"Go back to sleep." The SOLDIER growled irritably.

"I just want to look at it." Protested Pippin, eyes already dragging towards the stone. Kadaj felt all traces of sleep leave him as he watching the smaller being carefully. A sneaking suspicion turned like cogs in his mind as he scrutinized the hobbit's expression.

"Look at what?" Kadaj demanded, pulling himself to his knees, which brought him to eye level with Pippin. Again, the small hobbit's eyes betrayed him and he gazed longingly at the bundle wrapped up in Gandalf's arms.

"It's like I can hear it calling to me." Whispered Pippin, not noticing how Cloud tensed and rolled quickly to his feet, or how Kadaj's face softened with understanding. A twisted smile pulled at the youngest Advent's lips as he released his hold on Pippin and watched him silently as the small figure cautiously reached out to tug his prize from the wizard's arms. He replaced the orb with a stone of similar size, and then turned back towards Kadaj, who was watching him, seated on the ground with his legs crossed and a strange sort of smile on his face. Pippin's eyes met the glowing green of Kadaj's, but the SOLDIER made no move to stop him and the hobbit soon settled down with his curiosity.

Quietly, he drew the cloth covering back and gazed at the orb, sparing only half a glance for Cloud, who stood beside him, silent and watchful with a frown on his face. The blond shot a look at his youngest brother, brushing his mind with his own in a questioning sort of way.

'You practically encouraged him.' Whispered Cloud, half accusing, and half confused questioning.

'It called to him. Like Mother once called to us. Perhaps it is meant to happen.' Mused Kadaj in response. His tone was light and dismissive of the risk Cloud's words implied, but his cat-green eyes did not once lift from Pippin's now still form.

Pippin let out a strangled cry, sharp as a trumpet blast in the previous silence, and the camp woke like spooked horses. Kadaj's reaction was instantaneous; he leapt towards the frozen hobbit and kicked the ball away. Cloud half drew a totally useless sword on reflex and then angrily slammed it back into its sheath. The two SOLDIERS took a hold of each one of Pippin's shoulders and held him gently as the hobbit stared up at the sky with unseeing eyes.

"Pippin! What mischief have you done now?" grumbled Gandalf after he'd returned from scooping up the black orb into the folds of his cloak. The old wizard came over to Pippin and laid his hand on the small hobbit's brow in concern.

"It is not for you Saruman!" cried Pippen trying to get away from Gandalf, but the two SOLDIERS held him securely. "I will send for it at once. Do you understand? Just say that!"

"Peregrin Took! Come back!" commanded Gandalf and with a jerk Pippin came back to himself and clung to Gandalf in fright.

"Gandalf! Forgive me!" he pleaded.

"Forgive you? First tell me what you want forgiveness for." Answered Gandalf.

Yazoo and Loz drifted closer and crouched as unobtrusively as they could behind Cloud and Kadaj, listening intently as Pippin described his unsettling encounter with a being that sounded shockingly similar to Jenova. Cloud shuddered to think of another being like that in the world, even if this world was not his own.

'Is that why we're here Ni-san? To fight again?' whispered Loz in his mind, having picked up on his train of thought.

'Why do you think that Loz?' asked Cloud as neutrally as he could.

"You're a WEAPON, aren't you? This Planet need a WEAPON to fight its own Calamity doesn't it?' reasoned Loz.

Cloud didn't answer, but the seed of the suggestion took root in his mind and festered quietly. Gandalf finished questioning Pippin and carried him back over the nest of blankets that was his bed, Merry trailing behind as the old wizard told him to get some rest if he could. Then Gandalf wandered over to Aragorn and the others to discuss events and the SOLDIERS settled down around the two morose hobbits. Pippin was shivering, his eyes wet with tears. Merry did his best to comfort him, but Pippin just sat there and shook.

"It will be ok Pip." Consoled Merry with a sort of helpless expression on his face, as if he desperately wanted to help his lifelong friend but didn't have any idea how.

"He was in my head Merry. Sauron, the Dark Lord, the Enemy, Shadow in the East! In my head! It _won't_ be ok!" Pippin hissed back, torn between debilitating fright and useless anger.

"Pippin, it's alright. You'll be fine, I know you will." Said Kadaj with a sunny smile, completely at odds with the somber and slightly panicked mood of the hobbit he was addressing. Pippin's eyes narrowed as he looked at the brightly smiling SOLDIER and something inside of him snapped.

"How could you know? How could you possibly know? It was horrors beyond words! The stuff of nightmares! How could you know?" demanded Pippin harshly, but quietly, as he shook and shivered at Merry's side, curled up into as small a ball as he could manage while still sitting up. His posture betrayed the malice his glare was meant to have, so he looked more petulant than righteously indignant.

"You have no idea what's in my nightmares." Responded Kadaj, all expression wiped clean from his face. He met Pippin's stare with eyes as bleak and empty as a clear winter sky.

"We've all had someone or other try to take over our minds at one point." Said Cloud softly and calmly from where he sat, running a smooth piece of oil treated deer skin over the side of a blade a head taller than the hobbit. The blonde SOLDIER kept his eyes focused on his task, aware that the other members of the party around them had slowed to a stop and were listening intently. He ignored them all, except for the clearly distressed hobbit who was staring at him incredulously.

"We share Jenova's genetic legacy, and through that legacy she could try to take over our minds and use our bodies like puppets. She took over Sephiroth, or maybe he just followed her orders, and once she did, he could do it to."

"She opened me up to him, and he took over. Ni-san had to kill him, had to kill _me_, to fix it." Said Kadaj, his expression bitter as he gazed off into the night.

"She's tried it with us too." Said Loz, speaking for both himself and for Yazoo.

"The only thing you can do is fight it. And when it's over, it's over." Said Cloud swinging the sword he'd been working on back into its proper sheath and drawing a new one.

"What are you saying? That it's ok? That I should be at peace with this?" demanded Pippin, but most of his anger had drained out of him, leaving him ready to desperately cling to any bit of advice he could get.

"No, but you keep yourself together, and be ready for next time. You treat it just like any other kind of invasion. Know your enemy, know yourself and plan out how you're going to deal with the next assault. There no time for anything else. This is war; you do what it takes to survive. Everything else comes after that." Answered Cloud, standing and spinning his newly polished sword a few times before sheathing it and turning to look at the small hobbit.

Pippin still looked distressed, but knowing he wasn't the only person to have ever gone through what he'd just experienced helped. He took a deep breath and nodded bravely up at Cloud who regarded him with cool blue eyes. The blonde nodded back and then turned away, moving towards his now useless pile of bedding and quickly rolling it up. Yazoo, perhaps the only one of them not absorbed in the drama with Pippin, abruptly drew blades and leapt for a rocky outcropping, keen eyes scanning the darkness.

A shadow fell over them, even in the dark of the night, blotting out the moon and stars.

"Nazgûl!" cried Gandalf, sending the camp into a near panic. "The messenger of Mordor. The storm is coming! Ride! Ride!" he bellowed, urging the Rohirrim onto their horses. Moving much more quickly than any of them had expected of him, Gandalf rushed to Pippin and scooped him up.

"You shall go with me this time. Shadowfax will show you his paces." Then Gandalf was astride a magnificent white horse and Aragorn was lifting Pippin up in front of him.

"Farewell! Follow fast!" exclaimed the wizard even as the horse took off at a gallop.

Cloud watched them go, scanning the star-studded sky for the shape of black wings. The camp broke quickly under King Theodén's orders and soon even the SOLDIERS were ready to depart. They rode as fast as they dared in the night, pushing towards the hills at the base of the mountain range that cradled Helm's Deep further west. A rear guard advanced quickly up the column towards the king and spoke quietly to him. Even with his mako enhanced hearing, Cloud was hard pressed to catch the guard's report. Riders were approaching from behind, and gaining on them.

0o0o0

1. To the person who asked if anyone other than the Advents and Cloud can see Aerith: Actually, Cloud is the only person who can actually see her. The Advents can hear her and feel her presence, but not see her. The elves can hear her if she tries really hard to project. Aerith is almost entirely merged with Gaia's Lifestream. Cloud's WEAPON status and his strong emotional connection to Aerith allows him to see her, although never her face. The Advents have a connection to Lifestream through the vast amounts of mako running in their veins, but they are not WEAPONS, and are not connected to Aerith. The elves perceive the world, and by world I mean Arda, a bit differently due to the light of the Valar which is inherent in them. This allows them to hear Aerith if she tries to speak to them.

2. To the person who asked if Jenova's taint will allow Sauron to influence them: I would actually think the opposite. Jenova's control over Cloud and the Advents and Sephiroth is all based in genetics. All of them carry her cells in their bodies which gives her a 'door' so to speak. Sauron preys on weak wills and weak minds. After years of guarding against, in Cloud's case, or even living with (and therefore being able to recognize),in the Advents case, Jenova's influence, I would think that they would have much stronger wills and minds. Taking this into account, it makes more sense that they would be less susceptible to Sauron's trickery. Even if Sauron were to try a more overt hostile takeover rather than his usual subtle corruption, I think Cloud and the Advents would have more than enough experience to resist. It's almost like the SOLDIERS have occulemency training (pardon my Harry Potter reference but it's really the best comparison I could think of) prior to being dumped into Middle Earth.

3. To the person who asked if there will be more memory sharing: Yes. As you can see from this chapter it's getting to be more and more frequent an occurrence. Back in chapter 7, I sort of explained how this mental link thing would work; or rather Aerith explained it to Cloud. The more the brother's open up to each other emotionally, the closer and stronger their mental link will be. One of the great things about being thrown into another world is that it pretty much forces them to stick together.

4. To the person who asked about the Advent's ages: I realize that I'm deviating from cannon here, but I'm making the Advents much older that you'd think. I know they just sort of emerge from the Lifestream at Northern Crater, all grown up with spiffy clothes and custom weapons to boot, but my muse just didn't like that at all. For the purposes of this story I'm going to say that they were "made" as in cloned from Sephiroth and modified by Hojo, when he was still alive. I'm going to say that Hojo didn't interact with them at all. They were a side project within the department. So that makes them anywhere from 28 down. Assuming that Sephiroth was at least 20 years old before he went crazy (for arguments sake we'll say he was 21 when he went off the deep end) and then another 5 years for Cloud and Zack in the labs at Nibelheim, and then 2 years after Meteor for the Advents to come out of hiding for Reunion. So I'll say that Loz is 19, Yazoo is 18 and Kadaj is 17. Cloud is 22, assuming he was 14 when he joined Shin-Ra and Sephiroth was 20 at that time and it was about a year for Cloud to go through basic, fail the SOLDIER exam and get moved to the Regulars.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Each time I get a suggestion or comment about any aspect of this story it makes me itch to write a response to it, not just in author's notes but into the actual story. I know you guys can't see it yet, but I have several snippets of scenes and conversations already written that were inspired by your comments. They'll show up later in the story, as most of them require people to actually have time to sit down and think rather than constantly be running off to the next battle.


	22. Chapter 22

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

By: Lazeralk

Standard disclaimers apply.

Once again, ("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. 'Blah' is the Advents and Cloud sharing thoughts.

Went back and added a few new scenes to the OMAKE! Check it out.

(*NEW*) Not really an update, I just fixed some errors and typos and added a few things to this chapter. Still working on the paths of the dead, which is a bit frustrating for me because I have to rely on movie cannon for the next chapter. See you next time! ~Laz

0o0o0

The sound of hooves striking the ground called the party to a halt and, like the well-trained cavalry that they were, the Rohirrim turned as one to face the approaching party, weapons drawn. The moonlight glinted off spearheads and in the dark and Cloud spared a glance for Merry as the small hobbit gulped audibly and drew his short sword.

"Halt! Who rides in Rohan?" called Èomer, his booming voice echoing over the hills.

They watched in tense silence, waiting for an attack, as the newcomers brought their horses to a halt and a single rider dismounted. His palm was very white in the dark as he strode forward. He halted a good distance away, but not so far that they would not hear him if he spoke.

"Rohan did you say? That is a glad word. We seek that land in haste from afar." He said, and though he addressed Éomer, his eyes were fixed off to the side of the Rohiric prince, where four sets of bright eyes glowed unnaturally back at him through the dark.

"You have found it." Said Éomer. "When you crossed the fords yonder, you entered it. This is the realm of Théoden the King. None ride here save by his leave. Who are you? And what is your haste?"

"Halbarad Dúnadan, Ranger of the North I am." Announced the man. "We seek Aragorn son of Arathorn, and we heard he was in Rohan."

"And you have found him also!" cried Aragorn happily as he threw his reins to Merry and ran forwards to embrace the man. "Halbarad! Of all joys this is the least expected!"

Spears were raised and swords put away on all sides. The company was merged and thirty new riders joined the Rohirrim. Cloud and the Advents kept as close to Elrohir and Elladan as they could, and ended up riding with Aragorn and the Dúnedain. They reunited kinsmen chatted happily as they rode, catching up on the time they'd been apart.

The company settled down once they reached the Hornburg, as they'd ridden clean through the night. Cloud sent a brush of wordless thought towards his brothers, and they all looked at him. He settled himself down on a broken piece of the wall and adjusted First Tsurugi more comfortably, knowing that they were coming to join him. Elrohir and Elladan also joined him and he briefly considered asking them to leave before he realized what a useless effort that would be. A question had been turning over and over in his mind for days and he'd finally become annoyed enough with his inability to answer it that he was willing to just ask. Kadaj watched him, mako bright eyes glowing against the dark of pre-dawn. Scowling in self-depreciation, he plucked up his legendary, and yet somehow absent, courage and opened his mouth.

"Do you…? I mean, you three are all technically… pieces of Sephiroth right? Clones? …Did you get his memories?" asked Cloud awkwardly, studiously not meeting any of their eyes.

"Aniue's memories? Why would you think that Ni-san? We are different than Aniue. Of course we don't have the same memories." Answered Kadaj in confusion, tilting his head adorably.

"How is that even possible? You can't have memories from two different people in one person's head. Wouldn't you go crazy or something?" said Yazoo, scowling into the fire.

"Don't you three share memories though?" asked Cloud, eyes flicking towards Yazoo and then darting away, a tight ache in his chest. Crazy was one way of putting it.

"Yes, but once that memory comes into my mind it becomes my memory."

"What if you have two memories of the same moment, one from your perspective and one from, say, Loz's perspective. Can you distinguish which is yours and which is Loz's?" pressed Cloud, the trio of green eyed SOLDIERS unaware of how much their answers would mean to him.

"Yes, Loz's memories have a totally different feel to them." Answered Yazoo, as if it should be obvious.

"In what way?" pushed Cloud, blue eyes boring into the middle child. An eavesdropping Elladan and Elrohir quietly shifted themselves into more comfortable positions next to the quartet of SOLDIERS, thoroughly intrigued and a little afraid to interrupt. Yazoo's eyes narrowed in a way that said he was going to be difficult. Kadaj leaned forward and smiled at his sardonic brother in a way that said he'd better knock it off before he turned to Cloud and answered.

"A memory is more than just a picture. It's a combination of image, sounds, smells, and feelings. When Loz gives me a memory, I see it through the veil of his unique perspective. I get more than just the situation, I get how he felt about it, what details his mind picked out as noteworthy, what smells were the most interesting. Maybe I would have noticed different things, different smells, or colors or whatever. I can tell it's not mine. Like…say you and I painted the exact same thing. The subject is the same I mean. You'd be able to tell which painting was your and which was mine right? Because when you look at something you see it just slightly differently than I do. From those differences you can tell the memories apart."

"Are you having trouble sorting out our shared memories Ni-san?" asked Loz. It didn't occur to Cloud that Loz's voice sounded a bit strained, or that Yazoo was studiously ignoring him and almost glaring at Loz.

"No, not our memories." Said Cloud quietly, shifting uncomfortably. Not _willingly_ shared memories anyway.

"Zack's." guessed Kadaj, thinking back to the time when he taught Cloud how to summon the Lurkers. Cloud nodded tersely, the muscles in his neck and arms taunt with nerves.

"Zack was your friend from SOLDIER who helped you get adjusted when you were training right?" asked Loz, blinking owlishly in confusion.

"Yeah."

"How did you end up with _his_ memories?" asked Kadaj, something like bitter jealously coiling through his voice like a serpent poised to strike. Cloud was silent for a moment, the frown on his face betraying his inner conflict. He kept his eyes averted, not sure if he'd have the courage to say what he was thinking if he had to look into anyone's eyes.

"He gave them to me, just before he died. Aerith says I've got a small piece of his soul, and that's why he can't fully integrate with the Lifestream and go on to be reborn. As long as I'm still alive, Zack's spirit is stuck in the Promised Land with Aerith. Not that he minds."

"How though? He was your friend, not your brother." Said Yazoo, losing some of his now customary hostility to curiosity. Kadaj turned his face into the night to hide his snarl. Cloud bit his lip and silently yelled at himself to stop being such a coward. He'd already come to the conclusion that if this…family…thing… was going to go anywhere, he had to actually talk to them. He'd gotten such a good reaction from them when he'd told them a little about his childhood in Lothlorien and it made him want to try again. Still, he hesitated. This was…entirely different from being picked on as a kid in Nibelheim. The twins shifted as unobtrusively as they could, focusing on not drawing attention to themselves as they listened to what had to be the most important conversation their young charges could have so far.

'Aerith…' he called, just a whisper of a plea. He wasn't even sure what he was asking her for.

'I'm here.' She answered, the soothing scent of her flowers rising up around him comfortingly. He took a deep breath, savoring the fragrance, and then let it out. He could do this. He had to.

"Hojo. He was trying to make us both clones. He injected us with some chemical cocktail that made our minds more…open I guess. Combine that with all the physical modifications and the DNA transplants and all the mako…well, it wasn't very pretty at the end. I was getting Zack's memories and…_his_ memories. It got to the point where I didn't even know who I was anymore."

"I felt like that too. When Jenova opened me up to Aniue, I couldn't tell where I stopped and he began. It was really scary." Admitted Kadaj, a self-depreciating smile on his face as he stared down at his wrung hands, his jealously of Zack momentarily forgotten. The twins frowned in confusion, not quite following.

"We couldn't feel you then. It was like he swallowed you up, and you weren't there anymore. I was so afraid you'd never come back." Said Loz with a quiet sob, tears dripping slowly down his face as he scooted over to his smallest brother and hugged him tightly.

"Don't cry Loz. I came back. Ni-san brought me back. Don't cry." Whispered Kadaj, rocking the bigger man gently and petting his hair in a sort of futilely helpless gesture. Loz just clung to him, tears making tracks down his face with abandon. Yazoo sighed and shifted so that he was pressed against the burly man's side in a silent gesture of support.

"What happened exactly? How did you end up with Hojo?" asked Yazoo, a hand on Loz's back.

"I think the TURKS picked us up. Yeah. Sephiroth stabbed me through the stomach, and then I pushed him into the reactor. Nibelheim was burning. I made it down the mountain and then I think I passed out. When I woke up Zack and I were strapped to tables in the lab underneath the old Shin-Ra mansion in Nibelheim. We spent five years there." Said Cloud, ignoring the mildly alarmed and questioning looks he was getting from the twins. Yazoo was stiff at Loz's side, looking anywhere but Cloud. Loz shifted uncomfortably and sent a glance at Yazoo. Cloud didn't notice, but Kadaj sent a hint of a question through their bond.

'Later.' Yazoo whispered back.

"You got out." Prompted Kadaj, idly stroking Loz's hair to quiet him and silently telling Yazoo he'd hold him to it.

"Yeah. Zack got us out. I remember floating in the mako tank, then Zack shattering the glass around me. He dragged me out. I was pretty useless at that point." He didn't dare say anything about the drugs and the tests and the knives and the blood. He didn't dare mention the horrible ripping sensation of foreign memories tearing his mind to pieces as they tried to take over, or Sephiroth's cruel laughter as he mocked him through the Jenova cells they shared.

"Being submerged in mako will do that. I remember the showers we had to go through. It burns like acid all over, but the nerve endings don't die from it so it just keeps hurting and hurting…" said Kadaj, his fingers now clenched tightly in Loz's hair as he relived a little of his childhood. Cloud shuddered too, he's had his fair share of mako showers. The silence seemed to creep over them like a heavy awkward thing then. Even the twins were quiet, heads bowed as they considered all the strange new things they'd learned of their charges.

Yazoo started at his hands, clasped tightly in front of him, elbows on his knees as he leaned forward. His hair shrouded his face, hiding him from the world as he gently brushed Cloud's mind with his own, seeking the flashes of memory that sometimes bubbled up in the moody blonde when he wasn't concentrating. They were there, parading across his mind in full Technicolor glory. Yazoo pulled back immediately, rubbing his wrists where he could still feel the burn of phantom leather straps like brands on his flesh, the ice cold of stainless steel under the bare skin of his back, and the sharp edge of a scalpel deep inside his chest. His own memories of similar experiences rose to the forefront of his mind and he shuddered in revulsion.

He raised his head and caught Cloud's eyes, burning like stars in the dark. The memory of the scent of Aerith's flowers drifted along the link from the bright glade in Cloud's mind and washed away the tortured fragments of Yazoo's thoughts. The phantom sensations of being back in the labs faded away. Yazoo dipped his head once in acknowledgement and then looked away.

0o0o0

Aragorn was holding a quiet conference with the King, and Cloud shifted restlessly against his seat in the hall of the Hornburg.

'Something is going to change.' He whispered, not sure to whom he was speaking.

'I feel it too Ni-san. What will we do?' answered Kadaj. Loz glanced at him and then went back to his silent conversation with Yazoo.

"Cloud?" asked Elrohir, suddenly appearing at the blonde's side. The elf was dressed and armed, a cloak over his shoulders and a grim expression on his face.

"Estel will ask for those who would join him to ride with him immediately. Elladan and I are going, and as you are and your brothers are in our charge, we ask that you also accompany him."

Cloud blinked and then cast his eyes towards Aragorn, who was speaking to Legolas and Gimli. Suddenly, the ranger stood and drew his sword.

"Come! To the Stone of Erech! I seek the Paths of the Dead! Come with me who will!" he cried.

Cloud nodded at Elrohir and then he and the Advents rose as one and found their horses. Aragorn had already leapt into the saddle of his own mount and with that they were off, riding fast towards Edoras, where they would spend the following night. They rode hard throughout the day, swiftly across the flat plains of Rohan until at last they reached the city. Éowyn greeted them warmly once they came upon the Meduseld and hurried to get them food and lodgings. The party was large enough that they camped just outside the Meduseld and as they settled around their fires to eat, Aragorn conferred quietly with the twins. Cloud noticed that the three of them cast glances in his direction and felt the familiar twinge of nerves beginning to itch between his shoulder blades.

"So Cloud, we have all been wildly curious about your sword." Said Elladan as he broke away from Aragorn and approached him. Elrohir hummed his agreement as they took seats on either side of Cloud.

"What's this? The mysterious sword-in-pieces is to be explained? This I must hear." Declared Aragorn loudly, bringing with him half the encampment it seemed. Cloud looked around with a mild sort of horror as the people around him swelled and pressed closer. He glared first at Elrohir, then Elladan and finally Aragorn, not sure which one of them was to blame for this, but knowing that one of them must be at fault. Legolas, Gimli and several Dúnedain were all regarding him with hopeful, curious eyes.

"I-"he began; his faintly panicked face saying without words that he was about to refuse them all and then probably stalk off into the trees to get his viciously guarded personal space back.

"I want to hear too Ni-san!" exclaimed Kadaj, his eyes impossibly huge as he looked up his beloved brother adorningly. 'Please?'

Cloud glared at him, then huffed quietly in defeat. If he was going to be forced to talk about something, weapons were a safe enough topic and one that he was secretly very passionate about, particularly concerning his own precious masterpiece of a blade. He drew the massive, fully assembled First Tsurugi off his back and then began to break it into its pieces with military efficiency. He then set all six blades into the ground, point down in a line where everyone gathered could see them.

"This is First Ken. The base." He said as he drew the largest of the pieces out and held it parallel to the ground at about chest height. Then he flicked his wrist and the blade opened somehow to show a hollow center, filled only with a complicated lattice of thin metal and gears.

"If I'm only using First Ken, then I fight with it open." Then he flicked it again and the blade slid shut. First Ken went point down into the dirt. A slightly smaller sword whose handle was built into the blade along one side came to Cloud's hand next.

"This is Sidewinder. The second piece. First Ken and Sidewinder are the only two pieces that are unique. If you look here, you can see that Sidewinder is hollow. The metal was folded so that when I combine it with First Ken, it fits over the blade on both sides." Cloud then turned the sword in his hand to show that the blade was indeed hollow. His audience was fascinated to a one. Cloud reached out for First Ken and then snapped Sidewinder into place over the right side. The combined sword went back into the ground. Cloud then picked up two thinner blades with serrated teeth on one side and a smooth blade on the other.

"These two blades are mirror images of each other. They form the back bone of the main sword and attach to both First Ken and to Sidewinder. They are called Ryuu and Ookami. Dragon and Wolf. " Cloud then set one of the twin swords into the ground and lifted the combined First Ken and Sidewinder. The blade in his hand, Ryuu, was then attached, the base of the hilt resting against the guard on First Ken. Ookami then mirrored its twin on the other side. The whole thing went back into the ground.

"These two are also mirror images of each other. The hilts fold inwards when attached to the main blade." Said Cloud, one of the two much smaller blades in his hands. He demonstrated how the hilt folded up and locked and then was released again.

"They are called Tsume and Kiba, Claw and Fang. They can be ejected from the main blade in a pinch." Cloud then attached both dagger-like short swords to the main blade and demonstrated how they could be launched from the body of the sword with the flick of a tiny locking mechanism set into the gear-like guards of both Tsume and Kiba. The hilts folded outwards and locked in mid-air in a matter of seconds. Cloud deftly caught them, folded them back up and then connected them the base of First Ken. He presented the finished product to his enraptured audience, all blooded warriors and appreciative of fine weapons.

"The completed blade is called First Tsurugi."

"How much does it weigh?" asked a Dunadan, stepping forward slightly. Cloud planted the sword in the ground and stepped back, arching an eyebrow. The man fit his hands around the hilt and heaved with all his strength, but First Tsurugi didn't budge.

"Impossible! How do you wield such a thing?" he asked in astonishment as he eased back from the weapon, shaking his shoulders out. Cloud's expression didn't change, but he stood a little straighter, a swell of pride drawing his shoulders back.

'May I?' whispered Kadaj, turning glowing cat green eyes on his brother's famous weapon. First Tsurugi was just as well known as Masamune on Gaia, and Kadaj's fingers had been itching to try it since he'd first seen the blades glinting from their custom harnesses built into the body of Fenrir. Cloud gave a barely perceptible nod and watched with just a little tension as Kadaj lifted First Tsurugi from the ground. The Dunadan who'd tried before him, broad-shouldered and tall like all the Dúnedain, gaped incredulously at the petite, slender youth who was easily holding a blade that must have weighed more than he did.

"How does your speed not suffer for this?" asked Kadaj as he swung the massive blade a few times to test the weight of it.

"Lots of practice, and lots of mako." He replied. And whatever in Ifrit's hells Hojo did to me, he added silently, careful to keep that particular thought away from his brothers. His hands flexed uselessly as his sides, palms beginning to sweat just a little.

Kadaj eyed him suspiciously for a moment before he reverently returned the blade to its rightful owner, the flat resting on his open palms. Cloud accepted the blade with just as much ceremony, and the tension left his shoulders. It wasn't that he didn't trust Kadaj, but old habits were hard to change. Giving up his weapons to anyone who looked that much like Sephiroth while he just stood there, unarmed, was enough to make his instincts scream.

"Thank you Ni-san." Said Kadaj sweetly, giving his brother his best puppy dog eyes and inching towards him. Cloud huffed, but allowed the smaller man closer, having seen the slow approach for what it was. He reached out a hand and cautiously patted the shining silver hair quickly before he set First Tsurugi down and settled himself for sleep. Kadaj beamed joyfully. The company dispersed back to their seats, talking quietly. Cloud did his best to ignore them. Elladan and Elrohir shared a triumphant smile with Aragorn, who nodded back at them. Cloud ignored them too, focusing on the crackling of their small fire to lull himself to sleep.

They would depart at first light and the Grey Company, which now seemed to include four SOLDIERS, three elves and a dwarf, settled down to sleep as much as they could. Tomorrow, they would face the Paths of the Dead.

0o0o0

Before anyone asks, I pretty much made up the names of all the swords except First Ken and First Tsurugi (which funnily enough, mean the same thing: First Sword, and can even be written with the same kanji 剣.) We never said Cloud was all that creative. Other than the names of the swords, everything else, the shapes and configurations, should be accurate. There is a link to a diagram of First Tsurugi broken down into its pieces and how they all fit together on my profile page.

To the several people who said something about Cloud's age being different: I got a bunch of reviews claiming that Cloud is different ages than what I laid out in my notes, and most of them don't agree. All I can say is that for the purposes of this story it doesn't really matter exactly how old he is. As long as you can see him in your mind's eye as the same age as he is in Advent Children, that's good. I want my stories to be correct according to cannon as much as my plot will allow, but that isn't the most important aspect of the story. Just roll with it and call it AU.

To the person who sent me the link to YouTube: I totally watched On The Way to a Smile. It's neat! Thanks for sharing it with me. Unfortunately, I'm too deep into this story to include the new information from it. It directly contradicts my back-story for the Advents (clones of Seph raised in secret in the labs under Midgar), so I won't be using it.

To the people who asked about Cloud being a WEAPON: I'm sort of winging this one. I'm not sure if I'll have Cloud becoming a WEAPON after all the others WEAPONS are destroyed or after the first time he kills Sephiroth. I'm thinking that from Gaia's POV, anything that can get rid of Jenova is worthy of WEAPON status, dragon or not.

To the person who asked about Cloud cooking for the Advents: he hasn't forgotten, but they're in the middle of a war. Give it some time.


	23. Chapter 23

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

By: Lazeralk

Standard disclaimers apply.

Once again, ("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. 'Blah' is the Advents and Cloud sharing thoughts.

0o0o0

"There are a great deal of skulls here." Mused Yazoo idly as they picked their way through the dark caves towards only Aragorn knew what.

"I wonder where the rest of the skeletons are?" said Loz, neatly picking up the tail end of his brother's thoughts. The Dúnedain said nothing as they quietly followed after their chieftain, booted feet crunching over bones.

At last they reached a great cavern, whose ceiling was masked by darkness and a great throne was carved into one stone wall.

"Who dares to enter my kingdom?" called a voice and the Dúnedain all drew swords and turned their backs together, forming a protective circle around Aragorn. Legolas and the twins knocked arrows and waited. A single ghostly form grew from the shadows, a dead king.

"One who would have your allegiance." Answered Aragorn, drawing his sword. The dead king laughed, truly amused. For centuries they had simply killed any who dared to enter their realm, it would be no different for this group of foolish warriors.

"The dead do not suffer the living to pass." Said the ghost king.

"You will suffer me." Growled Aragorn. Again the dead king laughed, and as the sound echoed through the dark, ghostly figures poured from the walls until the cavern was full of the glowing green spirits. Cloud watched them curiously, relaxing into the swell of their presence, so very like the lifestream, and yet with a totally different feel to it. He could almost smell Aerith's flowers.

"The way is shut. It was made by those who are dead, and dead keep it." The dead king and his army of ghost warriors surrounded them, menacing in their silence.

"The way is shut. Now you must die." Intoned the dead king, approaching, as the dead arm closed in around them.

"I summon you to fulfill your oath." Said Aragorn steadily, advancing to meet the dead king, fearless as a Grand Horn.

"None but King of Gondor may command me." Returned the ghost, triumph in his voice as he raised his blade to strike. Aragorn met his stoke and blocked. The dead king backed away in shock.

"The blade was broken!" he cried.

"It has been remade." Answered Aragorn, his sword gleaming in the dark. The dead army watched restlessly, confused.

"Fight for us!" called Aragorn, calling to the ghosts around them. "And regain your honor."

The ghosts were silent.

"What say you?"

Still the ghosts made no answer.

"What say you?" he called again, moving through their ranks.

"You waste your time Aragon. They had no honor in life, and they have none in death." Growled Gimli, ax raised and stance ready.

"I am Isildur's heir." Said Aragorn.

"I'm confused." Whispered Loz to Yazoo. Yazoo shrugged in return. Aragorn ignored them.

"Fight for me, and I will hold your oaths fulfilled!"

"Why do we need them to fight for us? They're just ghosts. We were taking down ghosts when we were five years old." Said Loz to Kadaj, who looked just as puzzled. Kadaj shrugged back at him, mimicking Yazoo. Overhearing them, the dead king rounded on the for outlanders.

"And what manner of beast are you four? Neither Elf nor Dwarf nor mortal Man, of that I am sure. Some foul thing come to blacken our bleak Path? I wonder if I should just kill you all now."

"Don't you dare threaten my brothers." Hissed Kadaj, his usually happy face black with rage.

"We are already dead, boy. You offer us no threat." declared the dead king smugly.

Kadaj laughed, the sound of it echoing gaily and arrogant through the darkness. The dead king frowned, watching the strange child who was mad enough to laugh in the face of death. Then the boy's chin dropped to his chest and his body stilled, the army hushed into a silence only the dead could achieve as they watched with interest. Cloud shifted, uncomfortably loud in the quiet, as an undercurrent of devious excitement built up in Yazoo and Loz. He glanced at them, but their faces were stone blank.

Something twisted in the air around Kadaj then, something like vapors or serpents or hints of lifestream that had Cloud on instant alert. Then he felt it, the sudden disconnect of his mind into the lifestream and then back to reality, Sephiroth's face flashed before his eyes for half an instant. A lancing pain hit his upper left shoulder and he reached for it instinctively. The ghosts felt it too and quailed, fleeing into the darkness away from the boy until only the dead king was left. The Planet shrieked in response, and the three elves collapsed to their knees screaming as they clutched at their heads, tears streaming down their faces. The Dúnedain moved to enclose them in their protective circle.

"Kadaj!" barked Cloud, and it was instantly gone. The Plant was silent, but Cloud could still feel her fear. The ghosts were still, but they remained hidden. Kadaj raised his head and smiled at the dead king, his eyes full of malice. Cloud knelt beside the three panting elves and gingerly laid a hand on Elrohir's shoulder.

"You going to make it?" he asked.

"What in the name of the Valar was _that_?" demanded Legolas, and at this question the ghosts crept out to hear the answer.

"Geostigma." Answered Cloud, sending a short glare at Kadaj. The youngest of the Advents raised his chin defiantly.

"What is Geostigma?" asked Aragorn, glancing between the dead king and Kadaj, who were staring at each other balefully.

"Its…like a virus." Began Cloud, and then began again when he saw the blank, confused looks the others were giving him.

"A virus is a tiny creature that gets inside other creatures and causes them to be ill. The virus uses the bodies of others the same way we use the earth. They seek out the resources they need to eat and live and reproduce. This is what causes most illness." He explained the most basic way he knew how. He kept forgetting that this place was in the technological dark ages and thus didn't have germ theory yet.

"Geostigma is like a virus, but instead of infecting the body, it infects the soul. If the Geostigma had spread here it would have taken the dead army and trapped them here, oath or no oath, and then trapped the rest of the souls on this planet until the cycle of life and death stopped moving and there was only death, and the souls of everything that once lived on this planet were trapped." Continued Cloud, watching horror creep across every face in the cavern save his brother's.

"Why? To what end?" cried Aragorn, deeply upset by the prospect. The ghosts shuffled uneasily, muttering amongst themselves angrily. The dead king clutched at his ghostly sword, unnerved.

Cloud turned away, shaking his head. Kadaj picked up the tale, his voice ringing bright and clear in the dark.

"Long ago, Mother sent out Geostigma on a planet and consumed it, and then she used the trapped souls to propel their dead planet through the cosmos in search of a new world."

"Like locusts, viruses, parasites. She moved from world to world, consuming all the life there and using the husk of the dead world like a ship to seek out the next. The souls perished along the journey, their essence burned away to move her through space. She came to my world thousands of years ago and was nearly destroyed by the Cetra. Aerith's people." Said Cloud, his voice absolutely toneless.

"Three years ago, we killed her and stopped the spread of the Geostigma. Our Planet was saved, but pieces of her still linger in our blood. Some have more of her in them than others." He continued, eyes locked on Kadaj. The smallest Advent nodded, and his eyes softened as he met Cloud's gaze. Then he turned back to the dead king.

"Just because you are dead, does not mean you are untouchable. Do not threaten my family again."

The dead king floated away, his army churning around him. Aragorn watched him warily.

"Fight for me and I will release you from this living death." He said, and the dead king paused and looked at him over one ruined shoulder. Then the dead king and his ghost army drifted away into the shadows.

"We don't need them Aragorn. Let's just go. Ghosts are really low level monsters anyway." Said Kadaj, his face bright and cheerful again.

"It doesn't matter if we need them or not Kadaj." Said Cloud quietly. "Aragorn was trying to help them. He wanted to free them." The scent of Aerith's flowers became quite strong and the elves lifted their heads.

"You just may be right Cloud. You'd all better hurry though, or you'll miss the battle!" whispered Aerith's voice through the dark and Cloud smiled.

"Let's go." Said Yazoo, already moving to the other side of the cavern, and supposedly towards the exit. Disheartened, the others followed. They emerged from the mountain side and into the sun, though their spirits didn't brighten.

Aragorn kicked at a bit of rubble in frustration and gazed down at the river bank where a fleet of corsair ships were burning the settlements along the river and heading towards Gondor.

"Now what?" asked Loz, eyeing the ships speculatively.

The dead king suddenly appeared at Aragorn's side and the two shared a look. Aragorn smiled.

"Now, we go down to the river bank and we take the ships."

They all trekked their way down to the water, the buzzing excitement of pre-battle jitters and the absolute surety that they could not possibly loose putting a spring in their steps. They made it to shore just as the first of the ships was coming upon them and Aragorn rested his blade against his shoulder and called out to them.

"You may go no further." He said. "You will not enter Gondor." He added as he met the eyes of the man he assumed must be the captain. The pirates laughed, unable to see the dead king or his army.

"Who are you to deny us passage?" barked the captain back, amused.

"Legolas, fire a warning shot past his ear." Requested Aragorn. Legolas readied his bow.

"What's the point of a warning shot?" Asked Kadaj. "Aren't we just going to kill them all anyways?"

"Yes, but it's the principle of the thing." Answered Aragorn.

Legolas loosed his arrow, then turned to glare at Gimli, who had bumped the base of his bow with the pommel of his ax to skew his shot. The arrow struck the pirate standing next to the captain and killed him.

"Well, now you've been warned. Prepare to be boarded!" called Gimli to the corsairs who laughed again, completely unconcerned by the death of one of their own.

"Boarded?" bellowed the captain incredulously. "By you and who's army?"

"This army." Answered Aragorn and the dead king led the ghosts into the river and onto the ships, decimating the pirate fleet in minutes.

"Well, that was anti-climactic." Said Yazoo as they pushed the last pirate corpse into the water and settled in for the ride to the battlefield where they would meet up with the Rohirim and Gandalf. The Dúnedain had been spread out across the rest of the ships, doing their best to keep them on track so that they could fool the enemy army into thinking that the ships were still crewed by pirates as they approached. It made no sense to give themselves away before they could get to shore. The dead army also helped keep the boats on the right course, under a Dúnedain 'captain'.

The men busied themselves raiding the vessel for anything they could use, new blades and fresh supplies of food or water. They had a bit of time before they reached the Pelennor, the vast field that separated Minas Tirith from Minas Morgul. The Anduin, the river they currently sailed, cut between them.

"Cloud?" asked Elladan, coming to stand beside the much shorter man as he rested against a stack of boxes tied to the deck of their ship.

"Hm?" replied the blonde with a glance of glowing blue eyes.

"I had a question if you didn't mind?" the elf said casually, turning to face the same direction as the blonde and watching him carefully from the corner of one eye. Elrohir and Aragorn both drifted closer while trying to make it look like they weren't. Cloud eyed them suspiciously but didn't comment. His shoulders tensed up a bit and he forced himself not to move, no matter how much he wanted to adjust First Tsurugi.

"What kind of question?"

"Well, when you say 'soldier', it seems to have more importance somehow. Why is that?" asked Elladan, trying to gauge whether his question was too personal. He could never really tell which sorts of topics were safe and which weren't with Cloud. The blonde glanced at him again, a slightly confused look on his face, but he didn't seem to be guarded or even annoyed at the question.

"SOLDIER is an acronym. It stands for Special Operations: Logistics, Demolitions, Infiltration, Extraction and Reconnaissance. Where we come from the military loves acronyms. SOLDIER is a whole branch of the military full of men that are specially trained for all of those fields." Cloud's answer was amiable enough, so the elf though he'd press his luck.

"I see, and what did you specialize in?"

Cloud shook his head, and turned his body so that he was not quite facing the elf, but as close as he was willing to come.

"All SOLDIERS are required to have at least a passing proficiency with each field. Then the SOLDIER specializes. Zack specialized in Extraction. He wanted to be a hero who rescued people." He trailed off wistfully, a slight smile on his face.

"I asked what _you_ specialized in, not Zack." Said Elladan, somewhat jokingly, and was shocked when Cloud's face shut down faster than he could blink. The blonde pushed himself up and walked away without a word, his shoulders tense. Elrohir, who had been shamelessly eavesdropping, settled next to his twin with a frown.

"Well." Said Elrohir, crossing his arms over his chest and watching Cloud as he shifted his massive blade along his back. Kadaj bounced over to him, and approached carefully.

"Zack, it seems, is a sensitive subject. We shall have to find something else to talk to him about." Said Elladan.

"What though? Everything seems to be a sensitive subject with him. His family, his hometown, his work, his friends, everything." Replied Elrohir, his tone more resigned than cross.

"Weapons are safe, and…food perhaps?" said Aragorn, who'd come to join them more openly from where he'd been pretending to check several sets of ropes.

"We could ask him to tell some more stories?" suggested Elladan.

"Stories?" asked Aragorn, his interest piqued. "What kind of stories?"

"Strange tales. The likes of which I've never heard before. They seem to be children's fables. Perhaps it is worth a try. Kadaj, at least, will support it." Agreed Elrohir. The twins settled themselves to wait, each trying to prepare for the battle ahead and to discover some way to help their troubled allies.

0o0o0

Holy cow, I wrote something! O.O! I can't believe I actually finished this chapter…

Notes: Ok before anyone asks, I intentionally didn't make a big deal out of Andruil or Arwen's standard. The path of the twin's has changed, so they can't bring the standard to Aragorn, instead it will come to him from Halbarad. Andruil will be explained later! Also, for those of you who have seen the extended edition of Return of the King and are wondering why I didn't try to bury everyone in a waterfall of skulls, and strangely only skulls, I thought it was a bit pointless. It looks cool in the movie but it doesn't really serve any purpose.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed while I was on hiatus! You have helped me overcome my writers block! I'm also not on the brink of death by grad school anymore so hopefully I can start writing again! Yay!


	24. OMAKE

Redemption

A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover

By: Lazeralk

Standard disclaimers apply.

Once again, ("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. 'Blah' is the Advents and Cloud sharing thoughts.

OMAKE! Or rather, scenes that my muse and I thought up and then decided had no place in the story because…just…no. I'm going to try to move the omake to the last chapter every time I update so that the chapter numbers will stop being one number off.

0o0o0

-**On the road to Lorien**-

The horse rolled under Cloud who struggled to contain a yawn. Traveling by horseback across the country was positively the most boring thing he'd ever done. The others were quiet, plodding along at a steady pace and listening to Lasthas sing softly in elvish. Cloud sent a tendril of thought out towards Kadaj, just looking for him. The wisp of thought caressed the outer barriers of Kadaj's mind, just enough to alert him and for Cloud to pin-point his location. Kadaj brushed back with a hint of curiosity.

The scent of flowers hit the blonde strongly in the face and he sat upright abruptly.

'Aerith?' he thought, eyes scanning their surroundings, even though he knew he wouldn't see anything.

'Sorry Cloud! She made me!' cried the Cetra, the scent of her flowers fading. Cloud had a moment to be utterly confused before he heard a distinct, but impossible sound.

"Duh dadada, da-da, Duh dada!"* Loz's ring tone blared out across the startled party. Spooked, the elves drew weapons and formed a defensive circle, urging their horses to stand with their rumps together. Silent and tense, they searched for a target.

"Duh dadada, da-da, Duh dada!"

"What the…?" said Loz as he dug his phone out of his pocket. He looked at the screen with suspicion before he flipped it open with a practiced flick of his wrist and brought it up to his ear.

"Hello?" he said, looking more and more confused by the second. Blinking rapidly, he urged his horse over to Cloud and held the phone out for him to take.

"It's for you." He said, smirking just a little. With a suspicious frown on his face, Cloud carefully took the offered device and brought it up to his ear.

"Yes?" he said, knowing somehow just who would be on the other end.

"Cloud! Are you ok? Are _they_ ok? Where are you now? You just disappeared!" shrieked a familiar, panicked voice.

"Tifa! Tifa, calm down! Stop shouting at me!" growled Cloud, holding the phone a little ways away from his ear to cut the volume of Tifa's frightened demands.

"Sorry, sorry. But are you? Ok, I mean? Aerith said-."

"I'm fine Tif. We all are. No gaping holes in our chests I promise."

"What is...? Why is he doing that?" asked Elrohir curiously, the elves, having determined by now that the strange device that had startled them was not going to attack them. Kadaj happily explained the inner workings of a phone to him. The elf listened intently, the idea amazing him. People could communicate effectively over such long distances? Instantly? The ramifications of such a thing were mindboggling. Think of all the things they could do! They could send advance warning of attacks, saving thousands of lives! They could coordinate efforts between nations without risking the lives of their messengers! Things would get done more quickly and efficiently! Elrohir watched with awe and a bit of amusement as his charge argued with the strange device, sounding as if he were having a conversation with his overprotective mother. If it weren't so utterly astounding, it would have been quite funny.

"We'll be back when we get back and not a second sooner Tifa. I don't control that. Will you-. Tifa, just let me-. Didn't Aerith already explain all this to you? Tifa-. No. Look, I can't-. Tifa-. This is why I never picked up my phone before. Leave me a message!" Barked Cloud before he snapped the phone shut and wordlessly handed it back to Loz, who accepted with a giant smirk. Cloud coolly ignored him. Kadaj giggled at him, eyes bright.

"How do we have reception here?" asked Yazoo with a frown, doing his best to ignore his brother's idiocy.

"How did she get my number?" asked Loz back, giggling along with Kadaj, with a dopey grin on his face.

"Aerith. This is all Aerith's fault." Deadpanned Cloud, arms crossed over his chest and glaring fiercely at the foliage. The Cetra in question didn't reply, having made herself very scarce.

The elves blinked at them in confusion, shared a look between them and then quietly urged them to continue on.

0o0o0

-**At Edoras**-

"At least make an effort Gimli. They are our allies and my brother's friends. The Valar themselves have vouched for them, surely you can but give them a chance?" persuaded Aragorn, a reasonable expression on his face, saying without words how silly he thought the dwarf was being. Gimli ground his teeth together as he considered, large hands wrapped around his foaming mug of good Rohiric ale.

"Well. Alright. But just this once, mind. I still have my reservations." Said the dwarf gruffly, before he picked up his tankard and slowly approached the four outlandish brothers who were seated, hunched together, at the end of the long table, clearly separate from all other parties.

"Have ye tried the ale lads? Rohan is famous for its brew you know. Fancy a drinking game?" said the Dwarf, all in one breath. He was trying to be civil, but the strain of the attempt was obvious.

"A drinking game Gimli-san? What is that?" asked Kadaj, his large eyes glowing down at the dwarf as the lithe young man leaned over the table to speak to him.

"We all drink and the last one standing wins." Said Gimli, raising his tankard as evidence. The dwarf was frowning harshly, how could anyone with any sense _not_ know what a drinking game was?

"Last one standing? Are we going to fight also?" asked Loz, looking to Yazoo for confirmation.

Cloud put a hand over his mouth to cover his smirk, then cleared his throat loudly.

'He's trying to be friendly. We should drink with him.' He sent to all of this brothers. Kadaj turned his luminous eyes on his blonde brother in delight, nodding happily. Anything to please his Ni-san.

'All of us together?' asked Kadaj to Cloud, just to be sure. Cloud nodded, his face was serious, but his gleeful anticipation bubbled just beneath the surface, and he knew Kadaj could feel it.

"Ok Gimli-san! We'll have a drinking game with you!" declared the youngest, speaking for all of them.

"I didn't agree to this…" grumbled Yazoo, arms over his chest and a scowl on his face, but he stayed put, waiting for orders from his youngest brother.

"Come along then lads, the rules are simple enough. We'll go easy on you since it's your first time and all. Don't be too disappointed if ye loose. Dwarves are legendary drinkers, we can hold the stuff like no other. In fact, many a dispute between dwarves had been settled with drinking contests, so we've lots of practice, even at a young age. And Rohan's brew is especially fine for such a thing, you'll see." Rambled Gimli to them hurriedly.

"Are we fighting?" asked Loz again, confused. They couldn't possibly just be drinking right? There wasn't any challenge in that at all.

"No Loz, no fighting. Just drinking. Most people pass out when they consume too much alcohol." Cloud explained patiently.

'They don't have to know that Mako eats up alcohol faster than we could ever possibly drink it.' The blond added silently with a smirk.

Loz smiled and winked at him, humming cheerfully as the four of them got up and followed the dwarf over to the head of the table, where Legolas was already setting up. Several Rohiric soldiers and the twins were also participating. Aragorn looked on from the hearth, pipe between his teeth and a highly amused expression on his face. He exchanged a look with Legolas, clearly thinking that the blonde elf had the best chance to win, even against his twin brothers. It took all of Cloud's considerable resolve to suppress the Zack-like urge to tell them all that they didn't stand a chance.

Three hours later, all the men and one dwarf were passed out on the floor and even the elves were swaying in their seats dangerously. Only the four SOLDIERS, their eyes glowing like stars remained upright, bored out of their minds, and still completely sober. The vicious amounts of Mako in their bodies made it all but impossible for them to become intoxicated with anything short of the specially designed SOLDIER tranquilizers that Dr. Hojo had preferred.

"This drinking game thing is no fun at all Ni-san. Let's do something else." Said Loz, putting his empty tankard down on the table and bouncing out of his seat.

"Yeah ok. Training?" said the blonde, also rising.

"Wanna do teams this time? You and me against Yazoo and Loz?" asked Kadaj, practically bouncing.

"Sure." Agreed Cloud. The four of them stood and walked out of the room, their gait steady and their steps sure. Aragorn stared after them in disbelief. If he hadn't seen it for himself, he would have never have believed they'd drunk so much. The ranger sighed and took another puff on his pipe as he gazed down at his passed out friends. This was only going to make Gimli like the SOLDIERS even less.

0o0o0

**-somewhere on the road-**

"Cloud?" asked Elrohir, eyeing the blonde with a look of frustrated confusion. Cloud looked at him, an eyebrow slightly raised.

"Something has been bothering me since the day we met. Please forgive me if it seems a rude question, but…I simply cannot fathom for myself how such a thing is possible. Cloud, how _**do**_ you get your hair to stand up like that?"

"It does this on its own." Answered Cloud with a perfectly straight face, his slight annoyance only given away by the minute twitching of his eyebrow.

"It cannot be natural." Argued Elrohir, arms crossed over his chest.

Instead of responding, Cloud yanked a strand of hair out of his head and gave it to the elf. Elrohir held it before his eyes, a look of absolute shock on his face as the hair between his fingers stood straight up, not bending or swaying at all.

"Ridiculous, isn't it?" said Cloud, faintly amused at the elf's expression.

'Like chocobo feathers!' exclaimed Kadaj joyfully in his mind, having been eavesdropping the whole time. Cloud glared at him.

0o0o0

**-just after the battle of Helm's Deep-**

Kadaj sat on the bottom most step of the long stairs that lead up to the Hornburg and scrubbed at a speck of dried blood that stubbornly refused to come off his precious Souba with a scrap of cloth he'd gotten from Èowyn. The smallest of the Advents had overhead the quiet comparison that Cloud had mentally made between the blonde princess of Rohan and his future sister Tifa and had decided to practice being friendly with her. He heard the hesitant footsteps of a person much too small to be any of his brothers and looked up, his hands stilling over his blade.

"Um…your name was…?" asked a young woman, hip length pale blonde hair slightly matted with dirt. Her plain clothes were stained and a little ripped up at the hems, but her face was quite pretty.

"I'm Kadaj." The smallest of the Advents answered, a polite smile on his face. The four SOLDIERS were dressed in borrowed clothes; loose white linen shirts with grey tunics in the Rohiric style over them and dark cloth pants that didn't fit very well at all. The whole ensemble smelled slightly of horse.

"Kadaj. An unusual name." Said the girl, a blush dusting her cheeks as she glanced around in embarrassment.

"I guess it is." Answered the Advent, not really caring either way. He searched with his mind for his brothers and found them all scattered across the fortress. Loz and Yazoo were helping a group of Rohiric soldiers sort through the remaining supplies they'd hauled in from Edoras. Cloud was pacing restlessly along the wall, waiting for word of their next move with growing agitation.

"Was there something you needed?" he asked, wondering idly when his clothes would be dry.

"Well, um, my Lord. There is to be a feast tonight, to celebrate our victory. I'd, ah. That is, I'd like very much to go with you." She said in a rush, eyes glued to her feet.

Kadaj cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"Are you not invited also?" he asked curiously.

"What? No, um, everyone is going. I just. Ah. What I mean is, I'd like to go with you. Um, as an escort." The blushing girl babbled, still refusing to meet his eyes.

Kadaj frowned at her. 'Ni-san? What's an escort?'

'She wants to spend the feast attached to your side, talking to you and eating and stuff together.' Answered Cloud from the wall, having had absently listened to his conversation with the girl. He was really getting better at splitting his focus between what he was doing and what his three wayward brothers were doing.

'She's asking you out on a date! Is she cute?' chirped Loz eagerly. Kadaj obligingly sent him an image of the girl, knowing that if he didn't, his burly brother would pester him until he did.

'She's cute! Go for it.' Said Loz.

The girl began to fidget nervously watching the silver haired warrior, who was clearly not paying her any attention at all, through her lashes.

'What's the point? Are you going to sleep with her?' asked Yazoo lazily, having gotten the image of the girl from Loz.

'Hmm…I'm not sure.' Answered Kadaj, eyeing her critically. He felt a silent wave of disapproval from Cloud at the thought.

'I won't sleep with her.' He thought firmly, and felt Cloud relax.

'You should still go to the feast with her. But make her take a bath or something. She's got dirt in her hair.' Said Loz.

"Alright, I'll go with you. You've got a bit of dirt in your hair though, so you should probably take a bath." Said Kadaj with a serene smile before he turned back to his sword in a clear dismissal. He completely ignored her look of startled embarrassment as she reached for her hair.

It wasn't until just before the feast, dressed in new, better fitting and more elaborate, clothes that he realized he'd never asked her name.

0o0o0

See why they didn't make it into the story? Too silly. Still, I had a request for omake. So, uh, here ya go!

_*For all of you non-FFVII fans or for people who haven't seen Advent Children, Loz's ring tone is the victory music from the original game that plays whenever you win a battle. For FFVII fans watching the movie, it was a funny inside joke. I just thought I'd tip my hat at it, since I enjoyed it too. _

0o0o0


End file.
